IG2 Book THREE :The Rise of Lazarus
by Aline Riva
Summary: **STORY THREE of the 5 book series** set after the movie Inspector Gadget 2**Follows on from "Man and Machine"* Riverton is frozen in time by a laser weapon and the ACR take over,led by Doctor Claw, in a plan to wipe out the cyborg population. This will be the final battle between good and evil that decides the future of humanity - a battle that Gadget cannot afford to lose...
1. Chapter 1

**The Rise of Lazarus**

**Author's note to readers:**

**This is Book Three of a series of FIVE books, future fics which follow on from the Inspector Gadget MOVIE "Inspector Gadget 2". **

**If you haven't read the first two books (Book One: No less Human and Book Two: Man and Machine), I suggest it's best to read those FIRST, because this story follows on from Man and Machine.**

****Also please note if you have not yet read books 1&2, the pairing is Penny/Gadget – who are NOT related in this story, which takes place many years after IG2 – as is explained in Part Two of the series, Man and Machine****

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**Summary:**

**With the nightmare of the Riverton Bomber firmly in the past, peace is restored once again to the crime-free town, whose residents remain convinced that with the bomber now gone and Claw long dead, no more threats seem to loom on the horizon... **

**Inspector Gadget's life has never been happier now that he is married to Penny, and work is considerably less stressful with no crime to fight - especially as he now leaves the task of catching speeders on the highway to his Deputy Taylor Braydon, who is trying to work harder to impress Chief Quimby - _who is constantly threatening to fire him because in his whole year as Gadget's deputy, he has not made a single arrest or even issued one speeding ticket..._**

**And Alicia MacKenzie, who is now enjoying her freedom and her new bond with her daughter Grace, is so determined to prove she has changed she even persuades Lula to let her help out at the cybernetics lab. But when she meets a patient named Eddie, a friendship sparks up that comes as unexpected - but not as unexpected as his sudden death, which happens around the same time a skeleton is unearthed at the former home of Alicia's late father.**

**When Gadget learns the truth about the body that has been discovered, he has to break the news to Alicia that the bones belong to her late mother – and that DNA evidence suggests her late father was a murderer. When Alicia refuses to believe it, Gadget sets about proving the body is that of Alicia's mother- leading to another discovery that only adds to her shock and despair...**

**As Alicia begins to sink lower into depression, she is horrified when a man whose face is hidden from sight visits her in the middle of the night, a man who has a steel pincer instead of a hand who tells her he is Claw, arisen from the dead and then announces there will be the coming of a new era, _The Age of the Supremacy of the Flesh,_ which will see the cyborg population wiped out. Leaving her with the words _"The wolves are already at the gate,"_ he disappears leaving a distraught Alicia desperate to turn to a friend for help – but Gadget dismisses her ranting about Claw as a sign that recent stresses have weakened her mental stability.**

**But as no one listens to Alicia's warning, Riverton is frozen in time by a laser weapon built by the regrouped ACR, and when the beam is turned off the residents find themselves trapped in a town cut off from the rest of the world, with their town set to become the first place to see the cyborg population wiped out... _And this plan is, apparently, headed by a resurrected Doctor Claw..._**

**As Gadget and Quimby and the rest of the Police Department attempt to draw up battle lines, Alicia is forced to choose where her loyalties lie - and as families are torn apart and the ACR's grip on Riverton tightens, Taylor ensures G2 and the children get out safely – and then makes the choice to stay and fight alongside Gadget, but then an act of courage costs him dearly and he is held captive by the ACR, forcing Gadget to quickly make a move to try and take back the town... **

**This becomes a war that Gadget can not afford to lose, because Claw has made his plans clear: **

_**Riverton will be the first town to see the cyborg population wiped out... first Riverton, and then the rest of the world...**_

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**Rated T**

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**Warning: **This story contains some scenes of violence and references to torture****

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**Disclaimer: I own nothing, this work of fan fiction.**

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Chapter 1

Inspector Gadget was driving home after an uneventful shift at work – _and_ a meeting with Quimby that had seen the Chief tell him to _just go home for the day_ because there were no cases to work on and no paperwork to file, and that had put a smile on his face, because he was going home to Penny.

The view all the way on the road that led to home was blue skies and green fields and as he drove, the car spoke up.

"You're thinking about Penny again!"

"You bet I am." Gadget replied as warmth crept into his voice.

"So what's the big secret?"

"What secret? I don't keep secrets, Gadget Mobile!"

And he kept on driving, still with a smile on his face and a sparkle in his eyes.

"Are you sure we should go right home?" The car wondered, "I mean, we passed Taylor in a patrol car ten minutes ago and he didn't even notice us! I'll bet he was asleep again!"

Gadget laughed softly at the mention of his dozy deputy and close friend Taylor Braydon and shook his head.

"I'm sure he'll be just fine."

"That's not what the Chief said!" The Gadget Mobile replied, "You told me the Chief said he hasn't made a single arrest or even issued a speeding ticket in all the time he's had his job! That's a whole _year_, Gadget!"

He thought about it and frowned.

"Well I guess it is a long time- but Taylor's a nice guy, personally I think he's too soft, crime _should_ be punished." Gadget stated, "I always try and uphold the law. But I'm sure if there are any law breakers out there if Taylor misses them I certainly won't! I'm too vigilant; I'm _always_ ready for the unexpected."

Then his cell phone rang and Gadget let go of the wheel.

"_Oh God it's Penny!"_ He said, sounding nervous and remaining oblivious to the fact that the car had just swerved sharply across the road and almost gone off the highway.

The Gadget Mobile took over, auto steering it back onto the road and then kept it going straight.

"_Ready for the unexpected?"_ The car repeated, "I don't think so Gadget, you almost bent my fender!"

The phone was still ringing and as it slipped from Gadget's nervous grip and fell to the floor he extended his hand from the wrist to pick it up but instead his hand shot out and punched the dashboard.

"Hey!" The car snapped, "Watch my interior with your glitches!"

Gadget took in a shaky breath.

"_No glitches..."_ He murmured, looking down at his hand.

As it extended properly and grabbed the phone, he hit the answer button just as his hand snapped back into place, then he raised the phone and began to speak.

"Penny?"

"Yes I'm here!" She said, "Gadget, _don't _get worked up. _And please don't tell me you're driving!_"

"I'm not. Gadget Mobile is. And I _am _worked up; I want to know as much you do. _Why_ did you tell me about this before I went to work? I've been thinking about it all morning-"

"I don't know yet." She said quickly, "I'm still waiting."

"I'm two minutes away I'll see you soon." He replied and cut off the call.

As Gadget sped closer to home, the car spoke up again.

"What's this about, G Man?"

Gadget gripped the wheel a little tighter, afraid to voice the words that he wanted to say in case his hopes as fragile as china slipped from his clumsy, nervous hands and smashed in a heartbeat.

"_Maybe nothing."_ He replied, and stayed silent for the rest of the journey.

* * *

Penny stood in the front room and glanced down at Brain, who sat on the carpet wagging his tail and wondering why there was so much fuss and tension in the air over a little white stick that Penny held in her hands...

She recalled the moments they had shared as Gadget's hands had slid gently over her body and they had shared love that was always surprising, never less than wonderful and always deep as the bluest skies.

He had been holding her in his arms as he whispered to her that he loved her, he wanted to give her his child:

"_I want my baby inside you." He had murmured, as he ran his hands over her belly, "I want that so much, I need that..."_

_He had looked into her eyes._

"_I want a part of you and me here in this world so much I'm hurting for it."_

_And Penny had replied with a kiss and pulled him closer into her embrace..._

Gadget still suffered with the nerve damage he had received because of the bombing. Most of the time he made love with his Gadget mode switched on and while it made his body respond and work so much better for it, nothing was perfect. And this was the third time Penny had waited and then taken a pregnancy test:

_Three times now._

_Twice negative results. _

_Would this third time be lucky?_

She gave a sigh and looked down at the test in her hand, suddenly feeling afraid to pull off the cap and read the result:

Nothing ached or felt hollower than the pain the word _Negative _could now inflict.

Before they had decided to try for a baby she hadn't given a second thought to her womb - not since the days when she had been married to Max and their son Maxie had come along quickly - but now that part of her had suddenly become so important, as had dates and times and marking the calendar. Every month she would feel a surge of hope and dare to imagine what it would be like to know for sure she was carrying a child by the man she loved so very much...

_She thought about the look in his eyes and how overjoyed he would be to hear the news, at the moment when she said those words that seemed so far away._

She had never imagined the words _I'm pregnant_ could suddenly seem so impossible to say...

Penny heard the Gadget Mobile pull up outside the house.

She looked down at the test in her hand and then she glanced at Brain.

"I'm _not _scared to look!" She said to the dog, "It's positive, it _has_ to be!"

And Penny closed her eyes and snapped off the cap, looking down sharply as she read the results.

For a split second as she saw the result come up she was sure it said _Positive._

Then she looked at it properly and felt her heart sink and with that sinking feeling came an ache that made her feel empty.

"_It's negative again."_ She whispered.

Brain wasn't quite sure what she meant, but he gave a whine understanding that the stick thing in her hand had suddenly made her feel sad.

Then Gadget opened the front door and Penny threw the test in the trash and waked out into the hallway. She had been determined to brush this off but as she saw Gadget standing in the hallway in his trench coat and hat she caught the look in his eyes and it seemed as if her heart sank even lower as she imagined how much her words would take that optimism away that was shining in his eyes so brightly.

"Do you know yet?" He wondered as she walked towards him.

Penny looked into his eyes and he caught her expression and his own hopes and dreams faded away all over again.

"This might _not_ be good news?"

"It's negative again."

As she spoke she put her arms around him and hugged him tightly, feeling sure that Gadget was feeling a loss at that moment as much as she was; as she let go of him she saw a flicker of sadness in his eyes but then he blinked and it was gone.

"Maybe you read it wrong!"

She gave a sigh.

"No I didn't."

A light bulb snapped out of his hat and lit up as he was hit by another idea.

"Maybe the test was _faulty!_ Maybe we should take it back where you bought it and tell them it's not working properly and we want a replacement that _does_ work!"

Penny shook her head.

"It _did_ work properly. I'm not pregnant."

The light bulb went out and disappeared into his hat.

"Then I guess there's always next month." He said quietly as he turned to the wall and took off his coat and hat and hung them up.

"Right." Penny said quietly, then as he turned back to her she thought about a conversation Gadget had been trying to avoid having for some time now.

"Maybe you should go back to Lula and talk to her about it, she did say we might have problems conceiving because your fertility's all tied up depending on artificial function and if the damage is too severe -"

_"No!"_ He said quickly, feeling instantly uncomfortable at the thought of it, "I'm _not_ going to talk to Lula about this again! I don't want to discuss my fertility with her!"

Penny stared at him.

"But you got her _pregnant _seven years ago, how come you can't mention this to her now?"

Gadget still felt uncomfortable at the thought of it.

"I can't mention it _because_ I got her pregnant seven years ago! It's just too private."

Penny managed a smiled.

"Maybe we should just stop worrying so much," She told him, "We should stop thinking about it and then it might happen."

"You're probably right." Gadget replied, putting his arms around her and hugging her again. _As he held her tightly he tried to hide his disappointment, even though right now it felt as if that baby they both longed for was never going to come along..._

* * *

Lula Smith had a lot on her mind as she watched her speed climb higher while driving down the highway, with a stack of papers in her brief case on the passenger seat beside her and more questions than answers on her mind as she thought about the latest project she had agreed to take on at the cybernetics lab:

_At the time it had seemed like an idea with so much potential._

_She hadn't given a second thought to the finer details, like how emotion would start to get in the way..._

_This wasn't like time they created the human-hybrid body that had brought G2 back to life._

_This time it was the other way around and Lula had never expected to spend sleepless nights overwhelmed by emotion, crying over the thought of what she was expected to do..._

She wasn't thinking about anything else as she headed on up the highway.

Then she heard a siren and saw flashing lights.

"_Oh no!"_ She exclaimed, feeling a flicker of alarm.

The highway was notorious for being the only area patrolled by Deputy Taylor Braydon, who had a reputation as a dozy cop who missed speeders.

She guessed by the way _this_ patrol car was in hot pursuit that Taylor didn't patrol this part of the highway any more and she was in trouble...

Lula pulled over to the side of the road and turned off the engine and reached in her purse for her driver's license.

"This is the _last_ thing I need right now!" She said aloud.

She looked around and briefly caught sight of the tall man who walked towards her who was'nt wearing a police uniform. Instead he wore the badge of Riverton Police Department on his heavy leather jacket. His shirt was partly open and she noticed the flashing micro chips, guessing this was yet _another _cyborg cop, the chips had alerted her to that fact as much as the small built in radar gun that had extended from his temple. His blue jeans clung to his hips in a way that said this guy was toned and as he walked towards her his heavy boots kicked up dust from the ground. The breeze had blown his hair over eyes shielded by heavy black sunglasses and one glance at him had told her this guy was a mean cop and she was _definitely_ in trouble...

She gave a sigh as she anxiously clutched at her driver's license, knowing this guy would _not _accept an apology and let her go on her way; it didn't matter who she was or why she was in a hurry, he was going to give her a ticket...

As he reached her car he stood there in shadow, with his back to the sun.

Lula looked up at him.

"I'm sorry Officer." She said.

The cop ran his fingers through his hair and took off his shades.

His eyes lit up and he gave her a bright smile.

"_Hi!"_ Said Taylor Braydon.

Lula breathed a sigh of relief.

"I didn't recognize you back there!"

Taylor indicated to the built in scanner that folded up and went back into a small disc that quickly closed up in his temple.

"But you fixed my scanner up for me eight months ago!"

"I know!" She replied, "I should have recognized you by that – I don't know anyone else who would have wanted something so _retro_ fitted as a permanent attachment!"

Taylor frowned.

"It's not retro – it's sci fi!" He told her.

"No," Lula replied, remembering they had shared this conversation back when she had first fitted the thing, "It _is_ retro. It's like something out of an old nineteen eighties sci fi movie."

"Then it _is_ sci fi!" Taylor insisted.

Lula gave a sigh.

"Look Taylor, I'm sorry but I don't have time for this. I need to get back to lab and I'm running late and I have a lot on my mind so just give me a ticket and let me get to go, I'm under a lot of pressure right now."

Taylor's eyes widened in surprise.

"I wouldn't give _you _a ticket!" He exclaimed, "Why would I want to do that? You're a _friend!_ Don't be fooled by how tough I look – that's just for my image. The chief said I had to try harder and be tough, so I'm trying to _look_ a lot tougher."

And he smiled again and Lula smiled back at him.

"Thanks for letting me off, Taylor."

He stepped back from the car.

"Okay, you have a nice day now. See you, Lula."

And as she drove off he gave her a wave and despite the pressures in her life she smiled as she drove on; some things in life never changed, no matter how much everything else did: No matter what else was going on in the world, certain things could always be relied on to stay the same - like the fact that Taylor Braydon would _never_ be a smart guy – but he would _always_ be a nice guy...

* * *

Alicia MacKenzie looked up at the clock on the wall.

She smiled as she thought about Grace; At this time of day she would still be at school, it would be just after lunch and she would be going back into class right about now. She opened up a silver locket she wore on a slender chain around her neck and looked at the picture inside of her dark haired daughter who smiled back at her.

_Then she looked at the picture she kept in the other half of the locket, a picture of the man she still loved, the man who Grace called father..._

Alicia's gaze lingered on Gadget's picture for a moment and then she snapped the locket shut, feeling as if she had just stepped over the line again – they would never be together, he had told her that. He was happy with Penny and she knew that, too.

_But it didn't kill the longing inside her to feel his arms around her, to lay her head upon his broad shoulder and feel the warmth of his skin against the solidity of his metal infused bones that lie beneath..._

She thought about the love affair they had once shared and then she pushed those thoughts aside, remembering she was over at the cybernetics lab and even though she was only helping to keep the place tidy and lending a hand, at least Lula had taken her seriously when she had asked if she could be a volunteer.

_Lula had looked up from her paperwork and stared at her incredulously as if she wondered if she had gone crazy._

"_Why?"_ She had asked her, "Why would _you _want to help around people who are making the transition to cyborg?"

And Alicia had thought about how her arms ached to hold Gadget, about how much she regretted a past full of hatred for his kind...

"Because I've changed!" She had insisted, "I _have_ changed. _Please_ give me a chance, Lula..."

Lula had been doubtful at first but now she trusted her - and as she remembered that fact Alicia finished folding a pile of blankets and put them away neatly in a storage cupboard, then she resisted the urge to go into Lula's empty office even though the door was wide open and she felt curious about what kind of project she was working on, because these days Dr Smith was always tired and seemed to be spending most of her time in the lab...

Alicia passed her door and walked on, trying to keep her mind off everything that was none of her business.

Then she stopped at a door that was ajar and cautiously knocked.

"_Come in." _

Alicia stepped into the room, smiling at the middle aged woman who was sitting in a chair by the window, resting as she recovered from surgery that had seen metal work implanted in her upper chest.

"I was just wondering if I could help you with anything?" Alicia offered.

The woman looked at her.

She was giving her _that_ look, the one that Alicia had come to know and dread because it was a look she had been given so many times before:

_The woman recognised her because she had heard all about her late father, and about her involvement with the ACR..._

"I know who you are I read about you in the newspapers!" She snapped, "Is this the parole board's stupid idea of giving you community service?"

"No!" Alicia said quickly, "This is _my_ idea. I want to be here, I want to help people like you -"

"_Like me?"_ The woman said sharply, "Your father wanted _people like me_ taken apart in reprocessing plants! And you're no better because you're his daughter. I know what you went to jail for! You hate my kind, you hate the cyborg race. You think we are a threat to your precious humanity!"

Alicia took a step backwards out of her room and glanced down the corridor as she hoped Lula would show up at long last, but she saw no one and as she looked back at the woman she felt her eyes sting with tears.

"Please, I'm not the way you think I am! Won't you just give me a chance?"

The woman looked at her as if seeing through glass.

"_Get out!"_ She yelled.

Those words cut through her and Alicia left the room, quietly closing the door as she put her hand to her mouth and stifled a sob.

She had thought after working here for more than a month she would have been used to the hatred and the accusations because of her well publicised past but all the same it still hurt, and when it hurt that pain went just as deep every single time; No one would let her explain, no one wanted to understand that she had been brought up to think a certain way, that she had not understood her father's teachings were wrong until she had met Gadget, that man she had loved and lost who she felt sure she would always ache for...

_Gadget had changed her life._

_He had changed her life and now she saw the truth of the matter but it was too late because she had lost him..._

Alicia began to walk faster down the corridor as she gave another sob, feeling sure her life would always be as empty and cold as it felt at that moment.

"_Wait..."_

That single word sounded no more than a weakened whisper as it came from the open doorway up ahead that led into a dimly lit room.

Alicia's footsteps slowed to a stop at the threshold as she looked inside:

She could make out the figure of a man lying beneath white sheets but he was in shadow from the doorway and as she looked back down the corridor and saw no one around, she recalled Lula had told her never to go past the recovery rooms:

The woman in the previous room was recovering.

But she didn't know who _this_ guy was or _why_ he was in the room, because she had never been allowed past this point...

She had wandered just a little too far and suddenly as he whispered again she froze, wondering why _"Come closer.."_ had reminded her of the story told to her as a child, the one about of the girl who had strayed off the path and encountered a wolf whilst on a visit to her Grandmother's cottage deep in the woods...

"_Could you come in here?"_ The man whispered, _"Please...I've been alone too long...please come in."_

Then he coughed and gave a weakened laugh that ended in a wheeze like his lungs were about to give out on him.

"_I don't bite!"_ He chuckled, _"What do you think I'm going to do, eat you for dinner?"_

Her eyes grew wider and she gave a gasp as the thought hit her with a crazy speed that made her dizzy and made no sense:

_Had he read her mind?_

She took in another breath and tried to stay calm;_ this was crazy, he couldn't have known her thoughts..._

"I'm not supposed to be here." She said quietly as she stepped through the doorway.

The figure in the bed shifted slightly.

"That's okay." He said, and as he spoke his voice seemed a little stronger now she was closer and he didn't have to use precious energy trying to be heard.

"Just come and sit with me. And please stop crying."

Her eyes grew wider as she stared into the gloom wondering how he could have known that - then she noticed the angle of the lamp next to the bed and guessed that he could see her a lot more clearly than she could see him.

Alicia walked over to his bedside and as she got closer he turned his head and smiled.

"Hi." He said in a weakened voice that still carried warmth, "Nice to meet you..."

Then he paused, studying her face.

"_Alicia MacKenzie."_ He added, and she looked back at him, waiting for another stream of sharp words because she had been recognized.

But the sharp words didn't come.

Instead he slowly raised his hand and stretched out his fingers.

"Please...do have a seat, honey. The woman down the hall might feel like yelling at you but I don't. I just want some company. Is that okay with you?"

And he smiled again and now she could see his face and the warmth that sparkled in his dark eyes, she smiled back at him and then she took a seat at his beside.

"Nice to meet you." He said again, "My name's Eddie."

And Alicia noticed his fingers were still outstretched, so she gently took hold of his hand.

"It doesn't matter if other people give up on you, Alicia." He said weakly, "Just don't give up on yourself."

Her eyes widened in surprise as she wondered how this man, who was so weak, could possibly have a second to think about her or even care about her situation.

He saw the look in her eyes and he laughed softly and then gripped her hand tighter as he coughed hard and then drew in a slow breath that seemed to take all his strength.

"I'm just saying that you can't expect getting a glass of water for that woman in the recovery room to make you feel better about yourself. _You could take care of a thousand people and if they all hate you what does it give you back?_"

And he paused, waiting for her answer.

Alicia looked back at him, staring at this stranger who had spoken so profoundly:

He had spoken to her in such a thought proving way yet he looked like an ordinary guy, someone she could pass in the street without a second glance...

But then as his eyes sparkled and started to smile she warmed to him, guessing that if circumstances had been different, she _wouldn't_ have passed him by at all – he was older than her, around forty five and by his build looked as if he had once been a manual worker, maybe in construction, she guessed that because his arms were muscular and the hand that clasped hers felt like the hand of a man who had worked hard all his life. But his dark eyes carried such warmth that as he smiled, she smiled too and it struck her that even in his weakened condition, this man still carried a large dose of charm about him.

_"I'm still waiting for your answer."_ He reminded her, "Tell me, what use does it do to spend time being hated?"

She shook her head.

"I don't know." She admitted.

"You have to forgive yourself." Eddie replied, "Once you do that it doesn't matter if a million people hate you – if love shines from you like a mirror, it can only reflect that and everything else will just bounce off like bugs off a windshield."

He saw a flicker of understanding in her eyes and as she sat there holding his hand, her curiosity deepened.

"Who _are_ you?" She wondered.

He gave her a knowing look and as he answered her question she found herself wanting to know more:

"_I'm no one special..."_ He replied.

* * *

Penny gave a sigh as she ran her hand over the microchips than ran down Gadget's bare chest.

_"That was beautiful."_ She whispered.

Gadget was still slightly breathless and although he had welcomed her kisses and taken her in his arms like he always did, the thoughts that weighed on his mind took off the usual glow of their love making. As Penny lay beside him with a smile on her face murmuring how good it had felt to make the most of his afternoon off work, he gave no reply as he stroked her hair and looked up at the ceiling as his mind wandered far away from this room and even from the woman he loved:

He was still thinking about the negative pregnancy test, he was still recalling Lula mentioning to him a while back that those damaged nerves could ruin everything for him, that eventually the whole system that kept his reconstructed organs working could fail and leave him with the very real possibility that he would become infertile.

Suddenly those words weighed as heavy as the metal he could picture sharply infused into his robotic body and at that moment even his wife's loving arms around him did nothing to kill the hatred he felt inside as he thought about the explosion once more – _not the one caused by the Riverton Bomber, but the first, the one caused by Claw that had robbed him of his human body..._

Gadget blinked back tears as he wished Claw still lived if only to allow him to pour the hurt and the anger onto someone else instead of onto himself.

Thoughts dashed through his mind at speed:

_The explosion._

_Then his body being stolen and replaced with machinery._

_And then he thought about how he had upgraded that body._

_It had been a lot of risk and pain, and for what?_

_To lose out on his hopes and dreams, to lose the one thing he wanted the most, the chance to have a child with the love of his life?_

He could feel it building up inside him now and as that hurt and rage built up, he remembered Lula's warning, the whole reason why she had added a built in gadget mode control in the first place:

_It was potentially dangerous to leave it on during unguarded moments, especially intimate ones because of his glitches...and Penny was in his arms right now and had no clue as to how he was feeling..._

"_Gadget mode off."_ He said sharply, and drew in a shaky breath as he blinked away tears.

Penny raised her head from his shoulder and looked into his eyes, feeling concerned at once as she recognized that look in his eyes:

_Old demons were stirring, not so much waking up but certainly rattling their chains somewhere dark at the back of his mind..._

"No." She said softly as she reached up and ran her fingers through his hair, "No Gadget – _don't_ get upset! It's okay, we can try again, you were right – there's always next month."

_"I know that."_ He told her, wishing he could hide the pain in his voice.

Penny held him closer and whispered that she loved him, and Gadget let her think she was helping, that her words could make him feel better because he knew to let her feel any less would cause her sadness.

But as he lay there beside her he knew that _nothing_ could erase the anger and the hurt he felt right now:

_No one else had lived his life, had gone through his pain. It had been a long hard road he had always walked alone and in many ways he knew he always would..._

As he took a deep breath and closed his eyes and welcomed the comfort of his wife's embrace, he felt sure as he looked back on everything he had suffered in his life that there was nothing left to believe in, not in this world that had seen his flesh stripped away and replaced by steel. The only belief he had was in Penny's love for him, it was all that kept him alive and warm enough to remind him that he was still human no matter how much of his body had been taken away and replaced. But as for the rest, there was nothing there. He had tried every route from staying optimistic to praying for a miracle but the truth was as cold as the steel in his bones:

_Optimism faded out because it never lasted; something always camealong to dash it away._

_And there was no reason to pray to an empty sky, either. _

_His only hope lie in technology, with every glitch or failure his rebuilt body inflicted on him all he could look forward to was the prospect of more programming or more surgery._

_And that was all; his only hope lie in the technology that had stolen his human body in the first place..._

Gadget knew a tear was running down his face but then Penny kissed it away.

"_Stop it."_ She said, and as she kissed him a second time her kiss was warm and reminded him he was still alive and that was enough to shut the door on memories that bruised him down to his soul.

Gadget wrapped his arms around her and kissed her again, harder, deeper, knowing only that her kiss had revived him and brought him back from the darkest place and for now that was enough, it was enough to stay alive for, simply because he knew that he was loved.

* * *

As Lula walked along the corridor towards her office she paused, hearing Alicia's voice carry from one of the rooms further down the hall.

She frowned as she wondered how far away Alicia was because she had told her never to go beyond the recovery rooms.

As Lula walked on, she heard a conversation unfolding:

"_No, tell me more," _Alicia was saying,_ "Where did you work before your accident?"_

"_You know the space station just outside of Riverton?" _

"_Were you an astronaut?" _Alicia wondered.

And he laughed.

"_No! I used to work at the nuclear plant a couple of miles east of there."_

"_You used to run the plant?" _She wondered.

He laughed again and then he coughed.

"_No, honey. I was just the guy who cleaned the floors and sometimes made the coffee, like I said before I'm no one special..."_

And Lula's heart began to race as her eyes grew wider:

_Alicia was in Eddie's room?_

She quickened her pace and went straight into the room, staring at Alicia who sat beside Eddie's bed holding his hand.

"What are you doing in here?" She said in a hushed voice.

Alicia made a move to get up but Eddie kept a grip on her hand.

He looked at Lula and smiled.

"It's okay." He promised her," I asked her to come in. I want her to stay a while."

Lula looked back at him anxiously. She was well aware of the sacrifice this brave man was making and all she could do for him right now was make sure he was comfortable...

"Then I'll leave you to have a talk." She said, "Let me know if you need anything."

"_Lula?"_

As Alicia called her Lula had quickly turned to leave but she glanced back at her once more.

"It's fine." She promised her "If Eddie wants you to stay that's fine by me."

Then Lula waked out of the room and hurried up the corridor.

By the time she got to her office she was feeling shaken and blinking to clear her vision as her emotions began to get the better of her again.

Lula closed her office door and locked it and then sat down at her desk and put her head in her hands as she took in a breath and tried to think about all the reasons why she had become a cybernetics expert, just to remind herself that she could _not_ allow emotion to get in the way of her job:

_Eddie had volunteered for this, he knew he had nothing to lose and if she denied him this chance, no matter how slender that chance may be, she was sure that she may as well have denied him his last wish and his only hope and that was something she could never do any more than she could walk away from her job..._

_But all the same it was a difficult thing to live with, the knowledge that he would soon be dead and worse than that, have the last moments of his life stolen by the injection that would freeze his mind before death..._

_Before death._

That was the part she found so hard to deal with; this wasn't a theory being discussed or worked out on a computer simulation, this was a _real_ experiment with a _real_ person at the center of it and every time she thought about the man she had come to know as a friend as well as her patient, the more a thought came to her that she had never expected to feel:

_When the time came, she was sure she wouldn't feel as if she was doing something for the good of humanity and the good of science._

_Lula had tried not to let her feelings get in the way but it had proved impossible._

She tried to remind herself every day that this project was his only hope, that she was his lifeline, but instead it just felt like she was killing him, and she knew she had not gone into science for _this_ – she had wanted to cure, not to kill, she had never wanted to harm anyone -_ but there was no chance to back out of the Lazarus Project now... _


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

As Taylor Braydon parked his patrol car on the driveway of the mansion he used to share with his late wife Delia, he gave no thought to the past, not about any of it – not about how she had used him for his money and status _or_ about the fact that she had turned out to be the Riverton Bomber...

Taylor didn't think too much about the past, mainly because he wasn't a deep thinker- and also because he was very happy, living here now with G2 and her two kids, Grace and baby Alice.

He got out of the car and went around the side of the house, out to the sprawling lawns at the back where he heard children laughing and squealing.

Grace had Penny's son Maxie over to play and they were squirting each other with water pistols while they ran around the garden.

Taylor smiled and wished he had a water pistol too, because those things were fun...

Then Grace chased Maxie and as she ran past she squirted him with water.

Taylor laughed.

"_You got me!" _He called out, _"I'm hit!"_

Grace turned back and got him with the water a second time, then she ran off chasing Maxie again.

He watched them playing for a moment as he wished he was still a little kid too, then he went into the house and called to G2.

"Taylor!" She said in surprise as she met him coming into the wide, bright front room, "You're soaking wet! What happened?"

He laughed.

"Grace got me with the water pistol. Have you got another one? I want to get out there and _play!_"

G2 ran her hand over his wet hair and looked at him with love in her eyes.

"Maxie has the only spare water pistol."

"Then I'll have to buy myself one." He told her as he took off his leather jacket and tossed it onto a nearby armchair, "A _big_ one!"

Then his eyes lit up as he put his arms around her.

"Maybe I can get you with it! I can soak you with it...on a really hot day when you're just wearing a thin summer dress..."

And he held her tighter as his gaze wandered over her face and down her body.

"_I love you."_ Taylor said softly.

"I love you too..."

G2's grip tightened on him, reminding him that although he was a cyborg, around here she was the stronger of the two of them, being a human hybrid and the first of her kind...

"But you won't be getting _me_ with a water pistol!" She said as she laughed, easily overpowering him and pushing him backwards on to the sofa, "I doubt if you could stop me with a _water cannon_, Deputy Braydon!"

Then as she pinned him down he started to laugh as his eyes sparkled.

"I love it when you get me like that!" He exclaimed.

As they got closer and G2 sat on top of him still pinning him down, their lips met and they kissed slowly and gently.

"_What are you doing?"_

They flew apart and both sat up on hearing the voice of Grace, who stood in the doorway dripping wet.

"_Playing!" _They said in unison and Grace laughed.

"No," She corrected them, "You were _kissing!_ You're _always_ kissing!"

And as G2 got up and told her daughter to either play outside or go upstairs and get changed because her clothes were wet and grass stained, Taylor sat there on the sofa and looked at G2 thoughtfully.

After Grace told her she wasn't ready to come in and then went back outside to play with Maxie, Taylor was still thinking about the question he wanted to ask her as she turned back to him.

He looked into her eyes and she saw his expression and blinked, wondering what was wrong because Taylor looked so serious all of a sudden, as if something important had been on his mind – _which didn't happen very often to him at all..._

"What's the matter?" She asked him.

"Are you _sure_ you don't want to get married?" He wondered.

G2 nodded.

"I'm positive." She confirmed, and then she smiled.

"Was that all, because I have get Alice ready for bed."

Taylor gave a sigh.

"Yeah, that was all."

G2 walked out of the room and he watched her walk away, wishing he had said so much more; he loved her and the kids and even though they were together he still wanted to marry her and make them a proper family, it was just the way he felt about it – but he had asked her and she had said no and he just didn't know how to find the words to push the issue further, they got along so well and never quarrelled and he wasn't about to start a quarrel now...

Taylor shrugged off his disappointment as he noticed Grace had left her water pistol on the table, and suddenly he was smiling once more.

He grabbed hold of it, checked it still had some water in it and dashed outside to start another water fight.

* * *

Night had fallen by the time Alicia MacKenzie had gone to bed, feeling exhausted for her long shift at the lab.

Her thoughts had been on Eddie, the man who had made such a big impression on her and her thoughts remained with him as she closed her eyes.

Then she briefly thought of Grace and felt an ache as she wished her daughter was here with her in her small apartment, but then she thought about how happy her daughter was living with G2, the woman she had always called mother. She didn't want to ruin her sense of stability by fighting for custody of her daughter even though she wished she could keep her by her side all the time; Grace was happy to live with G2 and Taylor at his mansion and she saw Gadget all the time too. In recent months Gadget had allowed her to have Grace stay over some weekends and Alicia knew it would _never_ get any better than that, but after all she had been though she guessed it was the best she could ever hope for...

She thought again about Eddie and wondered how long he would be staying at the lab. He hadn't told her what kind of work he was planning to have done but she guessed it would be major because he was very weak and looked very sick, too.

_But all the same, nothing took away the fact that his eyes sparkled in a way that made her smile._

And as she thought about his voice, so silky and soft despite his weakness, she gave a sigh and let the tiredness pull her away into sleep:

_Eddie was someone she wanted to see again, he wanted to see her too; he had made her promise to stop by first thing in the morning because he wanted to see her again..._

That had been her final thought as she slipped into a deep sleep.

But the peacefulness of that rest did not last for long.

As she slept she turned restlessly, watching as images played through her mind with frightening clarity:

_The room was dark and the light from the TV made the images on the screen seem to flicker sharply._

"_East Riverton is burning."_ Said the female news reporter as she stood on the edge of chaos that saw flames lighting the night sky as cars jammed the road behind her and people pushed past her in panic, _"The only exit past the East Bridge is now sealed off and police are desperately trying to hold off the advance of ACR troops. I don't know how many people have died today but the battle is still ongoing –"_

The scene changed and Alicia felt her back hard up against a wall as a man stepped closer and she found herself looking into eyes she had never thought she would look into again – and as she saw his face, her blood turned to ice.

"_You're dead."_ She whispered.

He smiled at her but his dark eyes carried no warmth as he raised his fist and turned it around, showing her the ornate scrolled letters tattooed on his flesh.

"_Look again."_ He stated.

And the inked lines seemed to swirl and as she blinked she saw daylight, she stood at the top of a tower as she clutched at a rail and looked down at the dizzying drop below.

Then a hand of ripped flesh with metal gleaming beneath it hit the stairway and he clutched hard at that rail as he dragged his battle damaged body up to the top.

She caught her breath as she looked at him:

_Gadget was really smashed up, he had bullet holes ripped into his trench coat and a gash on his cheek showed the metallic bone beneath it and the wound was leaking blood and oil._

_He looked straight past her as he swung his arm around, it ended at the elbow where there was now a heavy machine gun weapon instead of a hand. He dragged his arm back in a movement that seemed to take all of his strength and Alicia slammed herself against the floor as a volley of shots was fired overhead._

Then the moment shifted:

_She was still at the top of the tower._

_Grace was standing there beside her, looking up at her..._

_Grace? Why the hell was Grace in the middle of this nightmare?_

_They were in a metal elevator now._

_Gadget was moving stiffly because of his battle wounds as he slammed the grille shut and as he looked through the bars she saw a look in his eyes that said this was the end._

"_Just go!" He told her, "Take Grace and get out of here. When this thing hits the floor run like hell and don't look back!"_

_And he turned away._

_Tears were streaming down the face of her daughter as she clutched at the sealed door and watched him walk towards a control panel where a timer was counting down to zero._

"_DADDY, NO!" Grace yelled._

And then Alicia was back in her bed, sitting up in the darkness as a shadowy figure moved closer.

His face was hidden by a hat he wore low but she saw his smile and as he spoke fear seemed to steal away her breath:

"_The wolves are already at the gate!" He declared, laughing as he raised his arm to reveal a gleaming metal pincer that snapped together, over and over..._

_Snap, snap, snap..._

Alicia woke up sharply and sat up, looking around her darkened room.

"_Claw?"_ She said breathlessly as she pushed away damp sheets and shivered, feeling as if the warm night air may as well have turned to ice as it sighed in through her open window.

_But the room was empty and from the window she saw only a calm night where in the distance East Riverton lay dark with just a few lights pricking the landscape._

She took in a deep breath and lay back on her bed, still shivering as she wondered what could have caused her to have such a terrible dream.

Then she closed her eyes again and tried to sleep, but the dream stayed with her and for the rest of the night Alicia Mackenzie lie awake in the gloom, waiting to see the safety of the sunrise once more, where no nightmares could reach her...

* * *

The alarm clock bleeped and Penny rolled over reaching out to Gadget but instead her hand slid against the softness of the pillow.

She opened her eyes, feeling sure he had been with her a moment ago because the space beside her still felt warm and carried the distinctive scent of his body, a masculine scent that carried with it a slight trace of the smell of oil that seemed to be mixed together with his human scent. Penny found it far from unpleasant; cyborg skin perspired differently to human skin and that scent he carried about him always increased when he was warm, when he was breathless, when they had been making love...

She ran her fingers through her hair and raised her head from the pillow.

"Gadget?" She wondered.

Then she heard the water running in the bathroom.

Penny looked at the time.

"Gadget, how come you're up so early?" She called out.

The bathroom door opened a fraction and Gadget looked out. Penny smiled as he looked at her; his hair was dripping wet but the rest of his body was in the shower - he had extended his long neck to poke his head around the bathroom door.

"I've got to pick Maxie up from G2 and Taylor's place. Then I'm taking him to school. And then I thought I'd go over and see Lula and have _that_ chat with her."

Surprise registered in her eyes.

"You're actually going to talk to her about our problem?"

Gadget's smile faded.

"_My_ problem." He corrected her, "This isn't _your_ fault, Penny."

And then his head snaked back around the bathroom door and Gadget finished off his shower.

While the water was still running Penny leaned back on the soft pillow and gave a sigh.

"It's _not_ your fault..." She said sadly as she wished he would stop seeing this as something that he felt he had to be blamed for...

A short while later Penny's heart was still heavy as she watched her husband button up his shirt and slip on his tie in front of the mirror.

While Gadget was getting dressed, Penny was still in bed because he had kissed and her and smiled sweetly and insisted she take it easy because she didn't have to get up early that morning – then while his hair was till wet from the shower, Gadget had cooked her breakfast and set the tray down beside her bed, telling her he wished he could give her this kind of start to the morning more often.

But Penny still felt sad about what he had said to her; it was _not_ his fault he had been injured because of the Riverton Bomber, it was down to circumstances and as much as she wanted to carry his child and hold his baby in her arms she didn't want him to have that longing cost him guilt, or to see him wrongly turn the blame on himself; Gadget had been through enough pain over the years, both physical and emotional - and it didn't take much to remind him of the day his human body had been replaced with machinery, it didn't take much for all that anger to come back to the surface...

_Gadget was outwardly confident, always optimistic too._

_But inside she was sure the scars of life's ordeals that had seen him so transformed had marked him down to his soul._

It wasn't obvious to everyone who knew him, but Penny had often caught a flicker in his eyes like a cloud passing through the usually blue skies of his optimistic mind; she would catch a darkened look, see anger or pain or both and then as soon as she caught it that look would be gone as Gadget tried to banish his demons once more.

Now she felt as if everything was getting stirred up again and she was sure that if Lula gave him bad news, if he was told they would never have that baby they both wanted, he would take it badly.

Penny wanted his child but his happiness meant more to her; she _never_ wanted to pursue any kind of route in life that would lead to his unhappiness and her mind was made up as she watched him get ready for work:

_If he found out they couldn't have a child together, she would accept that and move on from the idea and she would make sure that Gadget did too – some things in life were as pointless as chasing rainbows – she never wanted him to hope for something they could never have, not when they had precious time right now to enjoy the life they did have together..._

Gadget went out of the room and returned moments later wearing his trench coat and hat.

He smiled as he leaned over her and kissed her.

"See you later, honey." He said, and then he walked out the door.

Penny turned on her side and reached for the pillow that carried Gadget's unique scent of musky perspiration and oil mixed with it, then she inhaled that scent deeply as she hugged the pillow and closed her eyes, making the most of her late morning in bed.

* * *

After picking up Maxie and taking him to school, the Gadget Mobile drove away in the direction of the lab, and the closer he got to his destination the more Gadget's optimistic mood began to fail him as he thought about having _that_ conversation with Lula.

"I think we might change direction." He said to the car, "I might go straight into work."

"But I thought you wanted to go to the lab? How come you're changing your mind?"

Gadget gave a sigh as he gripped the wheel a little harder.

"Sometimes I wish you wouldn't ask so many questions, Gadget Mobile! It's no big deal; I can see Lula another time."

"But it's the _lab_, Gadget! That says to me it's something important! Is this about some new _glitch_ you've developed?"

Gadget's eyes narrowed as he guessed the car would _never _know how much that remark had irritated him; he didn't exactly think of _this_ problem as a glitch.

"No it's _not_ a glitch!" He said sharply, then he gave a sigh as he decided that avoiding this conversation now would only make it all the more difficult later on.

"Okay, I'll go to the lab. I'd rather get this over and done with than put it off any longer."

"So it _is _about a glitch?"

"_No!"_ Gadget replied firmly, and then he drove in silence for the rest of the journey and Gadget Mobile, picking up on the tension in his voice, chose to say no more about the subject.

When he reached the lab he parked the car outside and then got out and walked towards the entrance.

"I hope everything's okay, G Man." Gadget Mobile remarked.

Gadget stopped walking and looked back at the car.

"Thanks." He said quietly, then he went into the building and headed off in the direction of Lula's office.

* * *

As Gadget walked down the corridor he checked his watch; it was almost nine thirty by now and he guessed Lula would probably be in her office at this time of day.

When he reached her office door he saw her sitting there at her desk busy with paperwork.

He thought about how she had worked so hard to upgrade his body so long ago and as he recalled the day he had fallen into her arms right after his reconstruction he smiled; Lula was Emily's mother and they had stayed friends, too. He knew he had no reason to feel awkward about this conversation, not when he remembered how well they got along as friends...

_"Hi Lula."_

She looked up on hearing his voice.

Gadget was still standing in the doorway as he looked at her and his smile vanished as he noticed her tired eyes. There was something else too – Lula looked as if she had been crying.

"Are you okay?" He wondered as he walked into the room.

Lula put down her pen and closed a folder in front of her and pushed it aside.

"I'm fine, I've just been working too hard lately. I wasn't expecting to see you today, is something wrong?"

Gadget took a seat and looked across her desk.

"Sort of. Well... I'm not really sure-"

He stopped right there, Lula was giving him a questioning look and now he was starting to feel uncomfortable.

"I'm a bit worried about starting a family with Penny. I don't think it's going to happen, we've been trying for three months - more than that when I think back – I mean, we've never been too careful anyway because we both wanted a baby. Now we _really_ want one and it's not happening."

And then he gave a sigh of relief, feeling a little better that he had managed to fully explain.

Lula checked the time.

"I can come back if you're busy." Gadget said to her.

"No, that's fine. I've got time to check you over."

Gadget shifted uncomfortably in his seat; he wasn't entirely happy about his former lover giving him such an intimate examination because all he had to do was recall the first time he had ever tested out the function of his reconstructed body - and as those memories flashed through his mind he recalled making love to her like it had been yesterday.

_But he loved Penny. _

_He knew he would never cheat on her._

_And just the thought that he was recalling that single time with Lula was making him feel more than a little guilty._

"I don't think you need to check me over." He said quickly, "I just wanted to talk to you about the problem."

Lula wasn't thinking about the past; her mind was firmly in cybernetics expert mode as she looked back at him.

"When you say you can't get her pregnant, what _exactly_ do you mean? Is it a physical problem?"

Gadget looked back at her and felt his face starting to flush. _It had just occurred to him that if he was going to stand any kind of chance of sorting out this problem, he would have to be totally honest - and Lula wouldn't like what he was about to say..._

"I can get there eventually but its not as good as it could be. It's _much_ better with my Gadget Mode switched on."

She stared at him.

"_You leave it switched on? Are you insane, Gadget? Do you know how potentially dangerous that could be?"_

"In theory it could be." He replied, "But me and Penny haven't had any problems with it so far, I don't see the harm in it. Every time I leave it on everything _works_ so much better!"

Lula gave a sigh of despair.

"Don't you _ever_ listen to anything I say to you?"

Gadget looked back at her blankly

"I don't understand what I've done wrong! You think my gadget mode might get glitches when I'm having an intimate moment – but I _don't_ get that problem! I only get glitches when I'm nervous. And I'm happy with Penny, I'm relaxed – it's so much better to leave it switched on."

"But it's _not_ designed to be used that way!" She said to him, spelling it out clearly so he got the message once and for all:

"The nerves that reach the external connector are supposed to function at their best when your gadget mode is _off._ You've got the spinal damage so you have some difficulty, that means you need a lot more stimulation than you used to. But when you make love with your gadget mode _on_ it feels so much better and works so much faster - because you're forcing an electrical surge, _thousands_ of tiny signals that are firing off through damaged pathways that are _not_ supposed to take that amount of power! Those damaged pathways can deteriorate over time without you adding to the damage by over loading them. Two of the damaged connections eventually lead to the nerves and the tissue that helps to keep your sperm production going. _If that link is gone your chances of fathering another child are absolutely zero._"

Gadget's eyes grew wider as he thought about what she had just said.

"But that can't be right – there's nothing wrong with my function, not in _that_ way! I'd know if there was –"

"No you wouldn't." Lula replied, "To you everything would seem normal. You wouldn't know if your fertility was gone."

He felt a flicker of panic as he thought about this.

"So I've made the problem worse by keeping my gadget mode on?"

"Not necessarily. If the pathways were going to deteriorate it would have happened eventually anyway. I won't know anything for sure until I scan you. _Take your pants off and I'll check you over._"

As she said those words he felt like backing out of the room; he had been nervous enough about the prospect of her getting so intimate with him before - but now she had told him such bad news he felt even worse about the whole thing...

"Maybe you don't need to do that. Perhaps I could just come back tomorrow and leave you a sample and you could find out from that and –"

"No, it doesn't work like that - not for _you_." She told him, "Gadget, you're a combination of human, robotics and smart technology skin and tissue. Over eighty percent of your body and most of its functions are reliant in some way on artificial means and if _any_ of those pathways get damaged beyond repair it can mess things up. That's the easiest way to explain it! The only definite way for me to tell you if something is wrong is if I scan you and trace the pathways all the way down. So could you get undressed for me please? This won't take long."

_"Okay."_ He said quietly.

The he got up and walked across the room and went behind a screen to get undressed.

He took off his coat and hat and then glanced at the examination couch and suddenly all the memories of every single procedure he had ever gone through rushed through his mind.

Gadget pushed away the bad memories and took a deep breath, and then he started to unbuckle his belt.

* * *

Alicia had arrived at work early and kept her promise when she arrived at the lab, leaving her work until later and going straight into Eddie's room.

Today the room was bright and sunlight was filtering through the window.

As she spoke his name he slowly opened his eyes and then he smiled.

"Hi Alicia. Come and sit with me."

And as she sat beside him he raised his fingers a fraction off the bed and she took hold of his hand, feeling concerned that he seemed drowsier today than he had been when they first met.

"How are you?" She asked him.

He slowly looked at her, then he blinked and gave a sigh.

"I was cleaning the floor down in the main control because someone had spilt some coffee on the floor. I went across the room and I saw the warning, I read that it was on the same level as me, I got on the loudspeaker and I warned everyone. Then I set off the alarms too and by then the place was going into lock down. I got everyone out. But the door was closing sand there was no time. _I was sealed in there with the leak_."

Alicia looked at him in confusion.

He had been speaking slowly, as if he was heavily drugged.

"Are you talking about when you worked at the nuclear plant?"

"There was no way out for me. It wasn't a huge leak but I took that radiation right down to my bones. I'm dying because of it. That's why I'm here."

Alicia quickly cancelled out his fears.

"But you'll be okay soon! People come here to get better. That's what cybernetics does; it fixes things that medicine can't fix."

And as she said those words she felt happy because it had just occurred to her that she had meant that from the bottom of her heart – _her father's hatred of cyborgs that he had instilled into her as a child was truly gone now, she knew it for sure..._

Eddie drew in a slow breath as he looked into her eyes.

"I would have loved to have known you before I got sick." He whispered, "I could have definitely changed your life. You deserve a better life. But I don't know how things will go for me – I was supposed to have died six months ago. No one understands why I'm still alive. I'm holding on to this body for as long as I can."

Alicia moved closer and gently ran her hand over his hair, it was dark and soft but barely there at all, like it had just started to grow again after falling out. She wasn't sure if the radiation had done that to him or if he had undergone treatment to counteract the poisoning and she wasn't about to ask him such things when he felt so weak, but as she ran her hand gently over his head she smiled.

"This body you have is damaged." She told him, "But Lula _can_ fix you. Don't give up."

He blinked to clear blurring vision.

"I'm not giving up, Alicia. I want to live this experience as peacefully as I can, I don't want to fight anything, I just want to understand it."

She frowned.

"Understand what?" She wondered.

He weakly squeezed her hand.

"A lot of things." He murmured as he closed his eyes again, "I need to do so many things. I have my life and I can't let that slip away now..."

His eyes were still closed as he breathed again, a flicker of pain registered on his face and he breathed out harder, then he opened his eyes and looked at her once more.

Alicia was beginning to feel worried; Eddie's breathing was harder and his skin was growing pale and what had begun as a few damp droplets of perspiration had turned into sweat that was running off his face.

He turned his head and murmured something she didn't catch and then gave a quiet groan of pain.

Alicia saw a sponge and a bowl of water beside the bed and she soaked the sponge and squeezed out the water and gently ran it over his face, then over his throat and shoulders.

His breathing calmed a little as she did this, then he gave a sigh and opened his eyes again.

"You're a good person, Alicia..."

She managed to smile on hearing those words but she shook her head.

"I wish that was true!" She exclaimed, then her smile faded as she explained:

"No, I'm not a good person. I'm a bad person; I've done some terrible things. My father was the leader of the ACR. He even got me to put a cyborg man through one of his reprocessing machines. It was the criminal Doctor Claw but all the same, he was _still_ a human being and I _never_ should have done that. I could never hurt anyone again, Eddie. I don't think I can ever forgive myself for what I did. And I guess no one else will either. Most people hate me when they recognise me. They hate me because of what my father stood for. And I don't blame them."

He saw sadness in her eyes and shook his head.

"You're _not_ a bad person, Alicia." He stated, sounding very sure of it.

Then he felt pain that went deep in his bones and he trembled as he held her hand.

"Do you want me to get Lula?" She wondered, feeling a flutter of panic because she knew this man was very sick and she had no medical training at all, there was nothing she could do for him if his condition worsened but comfort him...

He breathed harder and kept hold of her hand.

"No." He said, sounding very sure as he fought for breath again, "Just stay here...I need to tell you..."

And he closed his eyes as he dragged in more air and then as sweat poured from his body he struggled to focus on her face.

"_It shines..."_ He said breathlessly, _"The gleaming towers in the east... Cyborg City, out of..."_

He fought for breath again as he grew weaker.

"_Out of the ashes...the ashes of the fire...rising like a phoenix... the first one, the first of many...the way of the future... the future of the world... they will build their dynasty...the daughter of the king and the son of the warrior...the dawn of a new age, the age of peace and enlightenment, heaven on earth where flesh and steel live together... the final part of the master plan... the scientists...the technology...trust in it, trust the technology... "_

Alicia's eyes widened as she clutched his hand and for a brief moment she recalled her dream about East Riverton burning...and he had said, _Out of the ashes? And towers in the east?_

Alicia pushed away thoughts of her dream because it seemed crazy to make a connection; he was heavily drugged and obviously hallucinating.

"I'll call Lula." She said.

Then his grip tightened with a strength that surprised her.

"_No."_ He said as he turned much calmer and clearer in his thoughts once more, _"I'm not ready yet... just stay with me..."_

And then he took in a slower breath trying to clear his mind and block out the pain as he kept hold of Alicia's hand, then he managed a faint smile as he looked into her eyes.

"Not ready for what?" She wondered.

He was still holding her hand but the pain that had made him so delirious was leaving him be at least for now.

"_Not ready to die."_ He murmured, _"Not at this moment..."_

"But you won't -"

She stopped, falling silent as she watched his chest rise and fall as Eddie slipped into a comfortable sleep.

Finally as he slept peacefully, she gently stroked his cheek and whispered softly to him:

"_Please hold on, Eddie. I want you to live so very much..."_

* * *

Gadget was keeping his gaze fixed on the ceiling as he lay back on the examination couch and tried not to think about being half undressed or the fact that Lula was giving him such an intimate examination.

"I'm just going to examine you before I perform the scan." She told him.

"Okay..." He said nervously.

Then as she carefully touched the pipe that ran down from his hip he gave a sharp gasp as an intense shot of unexpected pleasure ran through his body.

"_Oh no stop..."_ He said quickly as his face started to heat up again and he knew he owed her an apology, "Sorry, I forgot...my gadget mode's still on!"

As he spoke he kept his eyes fixed on the ceiling above him, wishing he had remembered to switch it off.

"Gadget!" She snapped, "Turn the damned thing off! Don't you _ever_ switch it off any more?"

"I...I have been forgetting lately." He said nervously, "Sorry about that. _Gadget mode off_..."

Then he looked harder at the white ceiling and drew in a deep breath.

"Sorry." He said again, "I'm ready now."

As Lula briefly examined him he tried not to think about how he had forgotten to switch off his gadget mode.

"Everything seems okay physically." She told him, then she moved the equipment closer and picked up the scanner.

"Turn on your side for me."

Gadget turned over, feeling no discomfort as she slid the device down his lower back.

She glanced up at the screen and studied the monitor she spoke again.

"The actual spinal damage hasn't changed, the cable looks the same which makes sense from what you've told me. That's good news; the physical side of the damage won't get any worse. Turn on your back now."

Gadget turned over and took another deep breath as she started to slide the scanner over his reconstructed tissue.

"This might be a bit uncomfortable." She warned him.

As she slid it lower Gadget laughed softly.

"I just thought of something – there's _no way_ I could describe this exam to Taylor – he's probably got a scenario like this in his collection of _robofetish movies!_"

And Lula giggled at that thought, but then she spoke again and her tone became serous.

"I'm sorry if this is uncomfortable."

As she moved it even lower Gadget closed his eyes as the scanner pressed much harder against his body in the worst possible place and in a way that felt as if the pain was starting to bruise.

"Can't you stop now?" He wondered, wishing he would stop crushing him with the damned thing.

"Just a minute." She said as she studied the screen.

Then she lifted the scanner away from his body and he gave a sigh of relief.

"Thank God that's over!" He exclaimed.

Lula briefly gave his hand a squeeze

"You can get dressed now Gadget." She told him, and went around to the other side of the screen once more.

As he quickly got dressed, he spoke to Lula.

_"That was uncomfortable! But at least there's nothing wrong, that's a big relief."_

He zipped up his pants and buckled his belt.

"I'm so glad I can go home to Penny and tell her I'm okay."

He put on his trench coat and hat and stepped out from behind the screen.

"I'll see you around, Lula."

"_Gadget."_

He had been ready to walk out the door but he heard the tone of her voice and as he turned back and looked at her his heart felt like lead.

_"What's the matter with me?"_ He said quietly.

Lula knew there was no easy way to break this news.

"Would you like to sit down for a minute?"

"No." Gadget replied, "Actually I'd rather stand up. Just tell me what's wrong because I'm busy, I have to be at work soon."

Lula gave a heavy sigh.

"It was very clear on the scanner. The pathway that controls your fertility is destroyed. You won't notice any difference at all apart from the fact that you can't father any more children. This is _not_ something I can fix and this _is_ for the rest of your life. I'm so sorry, but that's the truth."

He had expected bad news by the look in her eyes, but hearing her say it had hit him harder than he expected it to.

Gadget looked back at her and blinked away tears as anger rose up sharply inside him.

"_You're sorry? You're the one who cut my spinal cable and caused this in the first place!"_

As he glared at her he was thinking of nothing but the fact that she was a scientist, one like so many others who had taken so much from him, replacing parts of him, treating him like a machine...

"That was standard procedure at the time of the explosion!" She reminded him, "You wouldn't have had _any_ damage from the procedure if your thermostat hadn't failed! That's _not _my fault, Gadget! You were _critical_ at the time!"

And then he noticed her eyes were glassy with tears and instantly regretted taking his anger out on her like that; Lula was his friend, she was also the mother of his daughter Emily...

"I'm so sorry, Lula. I didn't mean to say that."

Lula shook her head.

"Don't be. You're entitled to feel anger. And I know this isn't much consolation to you now because you love Penny and you wants another baby, but at least you have Alice and Grace thinks of you as her Daddy, and you and Penny have her son Maxie too. It's not as if you've never fathered a child, you do already _have_ a family."

Then the look in her eyes softened.

"And you and me made Emily together and she's a lovely little girl, Gadget! You're lucky, you have three little girls who call you Daddy and I'm sure in time Maxie will too."

Gadget managed a smile as he thought about Penny's son from her former marriage, but his smile quickly faded.

"No," He said quietly,"He hardly ever sees his Dad, Max took it badly when he heard we got married. He hardly ever sees his son. I get on great with Maxie but he calls me Uncle Gadget and I think he always will."

Lula stepped closer and looked into his eyes.

"I am so very sorry." She said again, "I wish I could do more but there's nothing I can do to change this."

His anger had vanished in an instant and he gave her a brief hug.

"Thanks for being totally honest." He said as he let go of her, "I guess I'll learn to accept it in time – I've learned to accept everything else that's happened in my life, I'll just have to accept this too."

Then Lula's phone rang and she turned away and picked it up.

"Okay," She said quickly, "Stay calm, Alicia. I'll be right there."

As she put the phone down again she looked apologetically at Gadget.

"I'm sorry, that was Alicia MacKenzie – she's quite close to one of the patients here and she said he's been delirious. I have to go, I'd stay longer but-"

"I know, you're like me, always on duty." He said, and that made her smile again.

"That's so true!" She exclaimed, "I'm sorry, but I have to go now."

And Lula hurried out of the door.

Gadget stepped out into the corridor and watched as she went off towards the end of the hall, then he turned and headed for the exit.

As he walked on he briefly thought of Alicia and felt mildly surprised that she had become close to a patient here at the lab – then he pushed aside all thoughts except the one that weighed heavy in his heart, the thought that he would soon have to break the bad news to Penny that they would_ never_ be able to have that child together, the one they longed for so very much...

Then as he left the building he took in the fresh air and headed over to the Gadget Mobile, reminding himself that he was now on duty.

"Gadget Mode on." He commanded and as the light blinked at the back of his vision, he suddenly felt in control again:

_At least he was still Inspector Gadget, he was still the law around here and right now everything else could wait, because he was on duty now, he needed to be on duty - because he certainly wasn't feeling ready to pick up the phone and call the woman he loved and tell her such bad news..._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Lula hurried down the corridor and went into Eddie's room.

Alicia was standing next to his bed with an anxious look in her eyes.

"He's been in pain. And he's been talking about stuff that doesn't make sense. He was sweating a lot too."

Lula leaned over Eddie's bed and watched him as he now slept easily.

"He's on a _lot_ of medication." She said quietly, "A lot of heavy pain relief. He won't be here much longer..."

And then she fell silent; Alicia had no business knowing _any_ details about this patient or about the project he was involved in...

But Alicia had misunderstood.

"So you're going to fix him, right?"

Lula's eyes grew wider as she looked back at her.

"Hopefully." She said, masking the truth, "There are no guarantees because he's so very weak -but there may be a chance for him if he survives some major cybernetic work."

Alicia looked back at Eddie and felt an ache in her heart. She hadn't imagined there was a risk involved, she had become so used to seeing sick people restored to health with cybernetics...

"He's a really nice guy." She said, "I want to keep on seeing him. He likes me too."

Lula gave a sigh.

"He's _very_ sick, Alicia."

"But I _care _about him! And since I've come to understand cybernetics I've decided, I _very_ much want to find myself a cyborg partner. I think he could be the one. I really like him a lot, I can't imagine not seeing him again!"

Lula's jaw dropped for a moment.

"You want a _cyborg_ partner?"

Alicia nodded.

"I love cyborg people." She stated, "I want a cyborg husband. The more I come to understand the more I feel such a connection to these people – especially to _him_."

And she looked at Eddie, who breathed a little harder and then opened his eyes again.

He saw Lula next his bed and as he looked up at her he fought against a sharp wave of pain.

"_I need a moment...a moment with Alicia."_

Lula glanced at the monitors around his bed and felt a sense of dread as she saw the way his vital signs were becoming erratic... _the time was getting closer and the more she thought about it, the more she wanted to back out..._

She looked to Alicia.

"Two minutes and no more. He's getting very weak."

Then she walked out of the room and hovered by the open doorway, looking away as Alicia sat next to his bed and spoke softly to him.

Alicia gave no thought to Lula other than the fact that she had told her there was a possibility that Eddie could die. She hadn't seriously thought about that until she had heard those words, but now she knew the truth it was breaking her heart.

"You _must_ hold on." She told him as she squeezed his hand, "Lula said you have a chance, you _have_ to remember that!"

Eddie shivered as he fought against the pain that shot through his bones.

_"The technology is the way forward."_ He whispered, _"Have...have faith in it, Alicia... and remember me...remember my eyes, promise me-"_

"I promise." She told him, looking into his dark eyes and feeling sure she could never forget him as long as she lived.

As he gave a weak cry of pain and the machines around his bed began to bleep erratically he lost his grip on her hand.

"_Eddie?"_ She said tearfully, standing up and gently touching his face, _"Please...oh no don't die, no..."_

Someone was grabbing her arm.

She turned sharply and saw Lula was behind her now.

"Get out Alicia - he needs emergency treatment!"

Alicia looked back at her with a bewildered expression.

"But I want to be here for him-"

"_OUT!"_ She told her sharply as she hit the call button on the wall to summon more staff.

Alicia looked at Eddie, who briefly opened his eyes and closed them again as he fought for breath, then she backed out of the room, walked a short distance down the hall and found a seating area where she sat down and waited, thinking about how sick he was, remembering Lula had told her he might not make it.

She barely knew him but the thought of him dying seemed unthinkable;_ Lula had to save him, she couldn't lose him, she had only just found him and the thought that he could die was ripping her heart to shreds..._

* * *

As Lula carefully loaded a hypodermic needle, she glanced at Eddie.

His eyes opened and as he looked up at her she could barely speak as she blinked back tears:

_The loaded syringe in her hand now felt as if she may as well have been wielding a butcher's knife..._

"It's time." She said quietly, "The robotic body is ready and we have the internal organs and soft tissues and the skin to lay over it. Everything matches your scan results, even your new face."

And she listened to the sound of the heart monitor as it bleeped out of rhythm.

"I _don't _want to do this to you. I want to say I'm sorry in case –"

"_No."_ Eddie whispered as he fought to breathe again, _"I have faith in you...faith in the technology. Do it, Lula. I'm ready..."_

Then the pain made his body tense and he dragged in another breath and as he looked up at her he saw the look in her eyes and understood; _she felt like a murderer_...

"_You must take this..."_ He breathed again_, "To the next level..."_

And Eddie turned his head and closed his eyes.

Lula's hand trembled as she positioned the needle at the back of his neck, then as it slid in and she injected the drug into tissues that would preserve his brain function she carefully drew the needle out and tears ran down her face as she noticed he wasn't fighting for breath any more and he wasn't in pain, either.

His eyes were still closed.

His breathing slowed as she stroked his cheek.

"I'm _so_ sorry." She whispered.

_Then he breathed out deeply one last time and the monitor flat lined._

* * *

Gadget had sat in the Gadget Mobile for ten minutes just thinking about what he could say to Penny.

The car had asked him questions and he had avoided the truthful answer, because right now he felt as if he couldn't speak to anyone about the bad news Lula had just broken to him. The thought that he would never have a child with Penny broke his heart.

"_Why is life so unfair sometimes?"_ He wondered aloud.

"Beats me, G Man." The car replied, "And why do you look so down? Lighten up – it might _never_ happen!"

The Gadget Mobile was only trying to make him feel better, but the car's choice of words seemed to drive that point home even harder_: _

_It would never happen..._

Gadget felt as if he had lost something even though the child he longed for would never exist; it was just the thought of the permanence of the situation...

He looked down at the cell phone on the passenger seat and thought about calling his wife.

_"I'm sorry, Penny."_ He said quietly, but as his hand hovered over the phone he snatched it away again, knowing he was not ready to tell her this news even though he wanted to; bad news was never easy to give but he was sure he could handle the situation a lot better for her sake if he thought about what he wanted to say, if he got used to the idea and started to accept the idea before he told her the news...

Then his cell phone rang and as he reached for it he knew for sure if Penny was calling, he would have to tell her right now, because he hated to keep a secret like this from her even for a second...

_But it wasn't Penny._

Gadget answered the call.

"Hi Chief." He said, still with his thoughts on the news Lula had given him, "Is this important? It's a bad day for me, Sir. I've had some bad news and –"

"Gadget this is urgent!" Chief Quimby snapped, "I don't want any excuses from you, I don't care what you're in the middle of, I need you to get over to the cybernetics lab and find Alicia MacKenzie!"

Now Gadget's thoughts had shifted completely into police work.

"Alicia?" He wondered, "Why? What's she done this time?"

"She hasn't done anything." Quimby replied, "But during some renovation work at her old family home some bones were found. The local police department had forensics take a look, the result was quite a surprise and they sent it over to us. In fact it's turned up a _couple_ of surprises. The bones belong to Alicia's mother. And by the DNA evidence on her remains, it looks very much like she was murdered – beaten to death by Alicia's father. I can't say I'm surprised, I know Victor MacKenzie made a few people disappear in his time. We found some bodies a few years back here in Riverton and we thought one of them might have been Alicia's mother. But the DNA drew a blank. But not this time – its _case closed_. Victor's the murderer and he's dead too so that's the end of the matter – but Alicia needs to be told and it's better coming from _you _because you know her so well."

Gadget gave a heavy sigh.

"I'll do that, Chief." He replied, and then he cut off the call.

"_Thanks a lot, Quimby!"_ He said aloud, knowing from bitter experience that dealing with an emotional Alicia was _never_ an easy task...

"What's wrong now?" The car wondered.

"It's just work, Gadget Mobile. I have to go and give Alicia some bad news. I might be some time."

And he got out of the car and walked back towards the entrance of the cybernetics lab.

* * *

Alicia had waited in the seating area for a long time.

She had waited and waited hoping the longer she took the greater the chance she would go back to his room and find him resting easily, maybe even see a slight improvement in his condition. But she was also scared and she knew there was a chance that he could die, Lula had told her that and she didn't want to think about it because she cared about Eddie... _She wanted him to have the treatment, she didn't care how much metal or programming he had inside him at the end of it – she wanted that man to live..._

Then someone put their hand on her shoulder.

She looked up and her eyes widened in surprise.

_"Gadget?"_

"I need to sit down for a minute." He said, and sat beside her as she looked back at him with a confused expression.

"You came looking for me?"

"I just got a call from the Chief. This is police business and it's not easy for me to tell you this, so it might come as a shock."

He had spoken carefully but panic registered in her eyes and she took in a frightened breath.

"_No!"_ She said in alarm, _"I haven't done anything Gadget! I've behaved myself, and I've changed now, you know I have – I'm even working here at the lab! They can't accuse me of anything, it wasn't me!"_

Gadget closed his eyes for a moment as he let her hysterical words pass him by, then he looked back at her again.

"You're _not _in trouble!"

She stared at him.

"I'm not? Are you sure? I'm not getting accused of something I didn't do, I'm not getting set up?"

Gadget gave a sigh.

"Of course not! This is about your mother. I'm sorry, Alicia. But as you know there's long been a theory that your father killed her. That theory's been proven right. Her bones were found during renovation work at your old family home. _Forensics have confirmed your mother was battered to death by your father. I'm so sorry_."

She saw such compassion in Gadget's eyes but as her own eyes filled with tears she shook her head.

"_No... he couldn't have killed her! He hated cyborg people but he wouldn't have killed people he considered pure organic human beings, especially not my mother!"_

Gadget held her in a steady gaze. It was reassuring to hear her refer to cyborgs as people, but she still had trouble accepting everything her father had been capable of...

"Alicia," He said gently, "Your father used to make anyone who opposed him disappear. He had a lot of people killed in the early days and all of them were what he would have called _organic humans_. They were people who either wanted to stop him or steal the power and take control of his organization. He killed many people. And I know you were too young to remember but there was a rumour that your mother had a lover. That's most probably the reason why he killed her. I know this is difficult to accept but that _is_ what happened and the case is closed now."

Alicia shook her head, looking at him with a confused expression.

"I don't think it's her. I think the police have made a mistake. I don't believe he would have killed her."

"_But he did."_

"I can't take it in." She replied, "I just don't think he would have done a thing like that..."

And as she fell silent he reached over and took hold of her hand.

"I know it's not easy to accept." He said kindly, "But it's the truth. The Chief told me they figured it out with forensic evidence."

He saw hurt in her eyes as she spoke again.

"_Why did this have to happen?"_ She wondered, and as Gadget looked into her eyes she seemed so lost.

He shifted closer and put his arm around her.

"I know this is difficult." He said softly, holding her tighter.

Alicia closed her eyes for a moment, comforted by the fact that her head was on his shoulder and he was holding her close.

"_I'm so glad you're here."_ She whispered, instantly feeling safe from all of life's harms because his arms were around her.

Gadget frowned as he felt her hug him, lightly at first and then tighter.

"That's enough." He said, prising her off him as gently as he could and shifting over so there was now a small gap between their seats, "I'm sorry I had to break this to you but the Chief felt it was better coming from me because we know each other so well. I think he was right. If there was anything I could do for you I would, but this is something you have to accept no matter how difficult that is to do."

Alicia was still holding onto his hand.

"I don't think it's her body." She stated, "I just can't believe this is true."

Then she turned to see Lula walking up the corridor.

"How is he?" She demanded, "How's Eddie?"

Lula stood there and looked at her and Gadget caught a look in her eyes that said Lula was about to give some bad news.

"_Lula?"_

Alicia let go of Gadget's hand and stood up and so did Gadget, on hearing the anxiety rise in Alicia's voice.

"Just tell me, _is_ he okay?" She repeated.

Lula looked tired and pale and her eyes were red as if she had recently shed tears.

"I'm sorry." She said quietly, "But Eddie was very, very sick. He was dying from radiation poisoning and his condition got worse and there was nothing I could do. He passed away two hours ago."

Gadget stared at Alicia. She was shaking as she started to cry.

He reached for her and to his astonishment she pushed him away.

"Don't touch me!" She said tearfully as she gave another sob and looked back at Lula.

"_Why couldn't you save him with your cybernetics? Why? He was someone who deserved to live!"_

Gadget was still staring as he watched her crying and yelling hysterically at Lula.

"I'm sorry, he was just too sick." She told her, "He was weak, I _told _you that!"

Alicia ran her fingers through her dark hair and pushed it back off her face, taking in a shaky breath as she tried to calm down.

"_I want to see him."_

"That's not really possible." Lula said, "We had to remove some tissue and he's not viewable, not yet. Maybe you could see him one last time before the funeral, I'm sure it would be better that way, once he's more presentable."

Tears ran down her face again.

"_No!"_ She said as she wept, "_I need to see him now! I need to say goodbye, don't you understand that?"_

Gadget looked at Lula.

"Couldn't she just see him for a few minutes to say goodbye?"

Doubt flicked in Lula's eyes.

"I'm not sure..."

Alicia was still crying.

"_Please."_ She begged her.

Lula gave a heavy sigh.

"_Come with me."_

Alicia walked with Lula back towards the room where Eddie had been a patient. The door was shut and as her hand moved to open it, she paused.

"The body's in here because I still have a couple of things to do to tidy him up before he goes to the morgue. Just give me a minute and you can sit with him, okay?"

Alicia nodded.

As Lula went back into the room she closed the door behind her.

Alicia turned to Gadget, who was standing beside her.

"Will you wait for me?" She asked him.

Gadget's eyes were full of understanding as he nodded.

"Of course I will." He said quietly, "I completely understand how you must be feeling – I can see that you cared about the guy."

"He was so special." She told him, and sounded heartbroken.

Gadget felt surprised at the depth of her grief and guessed the guy _had_ to be special for Alicia to feel so strongly about him, it was the first time since he had ended their love affair while she was still in jail that he had known her to have feelings for any other guy... and he felt sad for her that she had loved him so much and lost him like this, too.

"I won't come in with you." He told her, "You need to say your goodbyes in private. "

Then Lula came out of the room.

"You can see him now." She told her, "You can touch him, you can hold his hand. But _don't_ uncover him, as I said he's not viewable because we had to perform a procedure and you _don't_ want to see that, Alicia. Just remember him as you knew him when he was alive."

Alicia nodded and then she glanced back at Gadget.

"You _will_ wait for me?"

"I'll wait for you." He promised, "And then I'll take you home. I'm sure Lula will understand if you need to take a few days off after this."

"That's fine with me." Lula added.

"I just want to sit with Eddie." Alicia said quietly, then she went into the room and closed the door behind her.

Gadget turned to Lula and kept his voice low.

"This was the _last_ thing she needed today – I was sent back here to tell her the cops have just dug up her mother's body!"

"Oh that's terrible!" Lula exclaimed.

Gadget could tell by one look at her that Lula had been through enough for one day; she worked hard to keep her patients alive and he could only guess how she was feeling right now...

"It must have been tough losing him like that."

"No." She replied, "He _asked_ to die here so we could use some tissue for cybernetic research – for a research program that's ongoing. The hardest thing for me was removing parts of him the way I did. I felt like I knew the guy, it was difficult to do that to him."

Gadget was still thinking about Alicia.

"I'm waiting for her, you don't have to worry about her." He said, "You look like you could use the rest of the day off."

"No," She replied, "I'll wait too - I have to finish up with the body before I have him moved to the morgue."

And then they both fell silent as they waited outside, while Alicia remained alone in the room with his body as she said her final goodbyes to Eddie.

* * *

The room was bright now, with the lights on and turned up and suddenly the place where he had rested before his death seemed so harsh and clinical.

Eddie's body was on the bed and covered up with a sheet. Lula had moved his arm so that it was resting over the sheet and as she sat down on the chair next to the bed she took hold of his hand and kissed it, not thinking about how he was cold and lifeless, only knowing that she wanted to hold him.

"I'm so sorry I never knew you sooner, or longer...you shouldn't have died, I wanted you to live so much."

She was aware that her own voice sounded hollow in the stillness and silence of the room...

Alicia gently stroked the back of his hand.

"You were so very brave." She said to him, "You saved all those people and you got poisoned because of it – but you were never angry about it, you were so calm and in control...you're a true hero, Eddie..."

And as she held his hand she felt as if her heart was broken.

"I hardly knew you but you are someone I will never forget." She said tearfully, "I think I was falling in love with you. All my life I never had that – I was raised by a bad man, I was around bad people all the time. It wasn't until I met Gadget that my life changed. But meeting you made such a difference. I'm not sure why but you were _so_ special..."

And she gently let go of his hand, placing his arm at his side once more.

_"So special..."_ She said again as she gave a sob and her gaze fixed on the sheet that covered his face.

"I won't forget your eyes." She said softly, "I'll remember the kindness I saw in them for the rest of my life."

And then she pushed aside everything Lula had said and decided to press her lips to his cheek and kiss him goodbye.

She got up and leaned closer, taking hold of the sheet.

_"I think I loved you."_ She whispered.

Alicia turned the sheet down, exposing his face.

She dropped the sheet, her heart thudding in her chest as she gave a frightened gasp, feeling as if the air had just vanished from the room:

The top of Eddie's head had been opened up and was only partly reattached.

From the gaping hole she could still see, his brain had been removed.

But that wasn't why she screamed:

_It was his eyes...his eyes were gone too..._

Alicia screamed again and stepped back, knocking the chair to the floor with a clatter.

The door opened and Lula came in followed by Gadget, who caught Alicia as she stumbled backwards in fright.

Gadget held onto her as she sobbed, barely noticing her for a moment as he stared in shock at the body.

"What did you have to look for?" Lula exclaimed, grabbing the sheet and covering Eddie's body once more, "I _told _you –"

"_How could you do that to him?" _Alicia sobbed as Gadget grabbed her and quickly led her out of the room.

Lula followed and closed the door, leaving the dead to rest in peace.

As Gadget let go of Alicia she spun around, glaring accusingly at Lula.

"_YOU TOOK HIS EYES OUT? HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO HIM?"_

Gadget silently extended his hands from the wrist and they snaked up behind Alicia, holding her firmly by her arms, making sure she didn't lash out.

She briefly struggled as she felt him hold her back, but she was still glaring at Lula, who tried to explain.

"Eddie asked me to perform the procedure after his death, he wanted tissue preserved for cybernetic research. It _was his request, _Alicia!"

She gave another sob as her anger slipped away and gave in to despair.

_"Why couldn't you just save him?"_ She said as tears ran down her face.

"I will talk to you about this another time. Not right now. You need to calm down, Alicia. Eddie wouldn't have wanted you to get upset like this."

Lula's words made sense as she recalled how calm Eddie had been about his situation.

_"I don't want him to be dead!"_ She said and sobbed again, this time Gadget pulled her closer as his hands snapped back against her wrists and he turned her around and pulled her into an embrace, as he did that she trembled and clung to him and sobbed with her face pressed against his shoulder.

"I'll take care of her." He said quietly as he looked at Lula, "Don't worry about her, I'll take her home."

Lula nodded, and then she went back into Eddie's room to finish tidying up the body.

As she closed the door behind her Gadget pulled back a little, loosening Alicia's grip on him.

"Come on." He said gently, "You need to get out of here."

* * *

Alicia was unsteady as he led her away from the lab and out of the building, she was still crying and shaking as he helped her into the passenger seat of the Gadget Mobile.

Gadget sat in the driver's seat and the car spoke up.

"What's happened, Gadget?"

"Be quiet." He said to the car, and then he turned to Alicia.

"You need to calm down." He told her.

She gave another sob.

"_I can't! She let him die, she cut him up like a piece of meat! How could she do that to him?"_

Gadget grabbed a bottle of mineral water from the back seat and unscrewed the cap, then handed her the bottle.

"Just hold this for a minute."

Alicia glanced at the bottle of water and then looked in confusion at him.

"Why?"

"Just hold it."

Gadget pushed up the sleeve of his trench coat and then pushed up the sleeve of his shirt, revealing a metal panel that ran up the inside of his arm.

"_Go Go Gadget pill box."_ He said discreetly, and part of the panel slid back and he took out a small white pill and the compartment snapped shut once more.

"There you go, Alicia. Just take it."

He handed it to her and she looked at it suspiciously.

"What is this? I'm human, I can't take cyborg strength meds!"

"It's just a sedative, it's human strength, it won't hurt you. It'll chill you out a bit. I take them sometimes, I've needed them on and off for years, ever since I was caught in the first explosion. I get them on prescription and you're quite safe with it – one _certainly_ won't harm you! It's good stuff and right now you need to calm down."

Alicia put the pill in her mouth and drank some water from the bottle, swallowing it quickly.

Then she put the cap back on the bottle and looked at Gadget.

"I'm so worked up you want me sedated?"

"I'd rather sedate you and take you home to sleep it off than have you get worked up and cause a scene, because I know you'd get arrested and that's the _last_ thing you need right now!"

Alicia sat back, leaning against the passenger seat as the sedative kicked in fast and the world started to turn into a place that was just the same as before but minus the razor sharp edges.

"That makes sense." She said quietly.

Gadget spoke to the car, repeating Alicia's address and as she heard what else he said she managed a smile:

"_You can drive, Gadget Mobile."_ He said in a low voice_, "I need to look after her..."_

And as the car pulled away and drove towards the highway, Alicia felt her eyes sting with tears as she thought about Eddie again. Now the thought of his body being left in the morgue, cold and alone and not even whole any more just made her wish she could stay with him, even if she knew that it was best not to look at what was left of him, she just wished she could hold his hand again. Nothing ached more than loss, nothing hurt like it and she knew her pain was no different to the pain anyone else in this world had ever felt on losing someone they cared about; she was entitled to hurt too, even after the life she had led, even if she couldn't forgive herself for the wrongs she had done...

_"I miss him."_ She said quietly.

Then she looked at Gadget and as their eyes met she felt reassured that he was beside her.

"You'll never know how strong you make me feel, how much you're holding me together right now." She told him.

Gadget glanced at the road, left Gadget Mobile to steer and then looked back at Alicia.

"You're Grace's mother." He reminded her, "I don't want you falling apart and going crazy or getting arrested, I want to keep you on the right side of the law and make sure you're okay, I'm doing it for Grace."

She looked at him knowingly.

_"And the other reason too."_

Gadget felt a little uncomfortable at that remark and suddenly wondered if giving her a mild sedative had been such a good idea, because here he was, alone with an over emotional Alicia who was feeling decidedly needy right now...

"What other reason?"

Alicia smiled.

_"Because you're a nice guy."_ She informed him, and as she said that he gave a sigh of relief.

The car pulled up outside her apartment and Gadget got out first, then he opened the passenger door and helped Alicia from the car.

She kept her arm around him as he walked her up to her front door; she felt a little unsteady but the shock of all that had happened was wearing off now because the pill was working.

"How the hell do you get through the day on these things?" She wondered, "I feel like I could sleep for hours."

Gadget opened the door for her and led her inside.

"I've been on them a long time."

He closed the front door and as she bumped against the wall he caught her, slipping his arms around her.

"Let's get you to bed." He said, then his eyes grew wider as she looked back at him with a burning intensity that he wished he hadn't noticed; he saw so much in her eyes but mostly it was a desperate need to escape her sadness and the loneliness she would feel along with it when he walked out of here...

"I didn't mean it like _that!_" He reminded her, and helped her through to the bedroom.

She got onto the bed and gave a heavy sigh, then tears came to her eyes again as she thought about the man she had lost.

"_I want him back!"_

Gadget stepped back from the bed and thought about holding her, purely because he understood her pain, but then he cancelled out that thought:

_He couldn't risk the chance that Alicia might throw herself at him, she was vulnerable right now and he knew for sure he would reject her advances because he loved Penny and that was his heart settled for the rest of his life..._

"I'm sorry for your loss." He said softly, "And I'll see myself out. Just go to sleep, Alicia. And be sure to call me as soon as you feel able to come along to the Police Department because I'd like you to see the DNA evidence for yourself, it might help you to accept the truth about what your father did."

"Okay." She said quietly, then as he turned to leave she called his name and he glanced back at her.

"_Thanks for helping me."_ Alicia said to him.

"No problem." Gadget replied, then he left without another backwards glance, feeling relieved to be closing the front door knowing Alicia was safely home and resting - and hopefully too sedated now to cause any problems for herself while she came to terms with everything that had happened.

He got into the Gadget Mobile and breathed a weary sigh.

"Where to now, G Man?" The car asked him.

"Home." Gadget decided, "I'll call the Chief on the way and tell him I've informed Alicia. And I need to explain I won't be coming back to work until tomorrow."

"How come?" The car wondered.

Gadget felt a wave of sadness as he thought about the news he needed to give Penny; after the way this day had started it couldn't get any worse and now his sorrow was weighing him down and the only way to fix that would be to return to the arms of the woman who loved him and tell her what Lula had said.

"I just need to go home." Gadget replied, "I need to talk to Penny about something and it can't wait any longer."

* * *

When Gadget parked the car outside his house, Penny had been about to leave; she had turned to close the front door and then looked back, feeling surprised as she saw her husband's car back home so early.

"Gadget?" She said, "How come you're back so early? You only left three hours ago!"

He said nothing in reply as he got out of the car and met her in the doorway.

"I was just going shopping." She told him, "We could go together."

And then she saw the look in his eyes.

"_We need to go inside and talk."_ Gadget said to her.

Penny went back inside and as he walked through to the front room she followed, feeling a jolt deep inside as it suddenly occurred to her that this had to be something about _that_ chat he had been planning to have with Lula...

As she sat down on the couch beside him she looked into his eyes and made a guess.

"Lula said it's not good news?"

Gadget gave a sigh.

"It's been a hell of a day, Penny. The Chief called me and told me they'd just found out Victor MacKenzie killed his wife. They'd just found the body after all these years and he wanted me to go over to the lab and tell Alicia. And today was the day one of Lula's patients died – he was also a guy who Alicia was very fond of. So it wasn't easy dealing with any of that. But the worst thing was when I had that talk with Lula. She insisted on checking me over which I hated because I felt uncomfortable about it and then she told me I was fine... _apart from the fact that I can't father any more kids_. "

And Gadget was still looking into her eyes as he fell silent, holding back his own pain as he waited for her reaction.

Penny's eyes were soft and filled with love.

"I would absolutely _love_ to have a baby with you." She told him, "Purely because I love you so much..."

And Gadget's eyes filled with tears.

Penny gripped his hand harder and she managed to keep her own sadness at bay as she remembered his happiness meant more to her than anything else.

"_But..." _ Penny added, "I had Maxie almost eight years ago. And I was lucky not to have any complications. I know from some of the women I went to school with, not everyone is that lucky. If I had another pregnancy now, if I went through childbirth a second time, I could wind up having problems later on."

Gadget blinked away tears and looked at her in surprise.

"Really? Do you think that might happen?"

"It _could_ happen." She told him, "One of my friends had problems with her uterus. Giving birth can make everything weak inside. _It can wreck your sex life!_"

Then she thought about it some more.

"And I don't want to end up like my cousin Beth. She had two kids and after the second one she was _never_ the same again."

Gadget stared at her.

"What happened?"

"Well," Penny said, "She got _leaks_. I mean, every little sneeze or cough and it got worse and worse. I don't want to wet my pants every time I laugh! Can you _imagine_ what that would be like?"

And Gadget saw a sparkled of amusement in her eyes and suddenly that look was quite infectious and he started to laugh too.

"Oh no, I _don't_ want to imagine that!"

"Neither do I!" Penny exclaimed, "Can you just picture it? Every time you say something funny, or I sneeze you'll suddenly hear this noise and say, _Penny, did you leave the water running? _And I'll say _No honey, it's just me again!_"

And as she laughed so did Gadget, and as he laughed with her it seemed as if that unbearable weight in his heart had just lifted.

"You don't have a cousin Beth." He said.

Penny laughed again.

"That's not the point!" She told him as she put her arms around him, "I just wanted to see you smile. I love seeing you happy."

As she looked into his eyes Gadget smiled.

"I don't know how I ended up with a woman like you." He said softly.

Penny smiled too.

"_I guess I just got lucky."_ She told him.

* * *

Alicia MacKenzie woke up to the sound of falling rain.

She slowly opened her eyes and then shut them again, guessing she had slept off that sedative for the rest of the day because it was now dark outside.

She gave a sigh and wondered exactly what was in that pill Gadget had given her; it had certainly helped to calm her down and even now she still felt as if she was only half awake.

Sleep was calling her back.

Almost immediately, she got a sliding sensation, as if the world was shifting:

_"Remember my eyes."_ Eddie whispered to her and Alicia looked into his dark eyes and felt an ache in her heart.

" _I love you."_ She whispered back, sure that in this other world of dreams those words had been carried to where ever he might be now he was free of his body and free of the pain.

_Then a figure stood before her cast in shadow_.

Fear crowded over her as she wondered if it was Claw:

_The thought that he was back from the dead, even if only to stalk her dreams, frightened her as she lay restless trapped in sleep and knowing only waking could free her from the nightmare..._

The figure raised his head and she saw a face devoid of expression, metallic, blank, with eyes set as deep glowing red lights.

A hoarse voice with a vague electronic tone began to speak, each word burrowing its way into her brain as if intended to eave a permanent mark:

"_Left to ash blown on Zephyr wind, the east shall Arise Reborn of flesh and steel under the skies of Riverton, shall live in peace for ever more."_

Alicia caught her breath as she woke up sharply.

The room span as she got out of bed and stumbled in the dark, still feeling half drugged.

Those words were spinning around in her head, more than that, buzzing like trapped wasps:

_She had to get them out._

That was her only thought as she made her way to the kitchen, snapping on the lights along the way.

Moments later she went over to the kitchen sink and ran the water and splashed her face to wake herself up, then as she turned off the water she caught sight of something reflected in the dark glass of the window and turned around sharply, fixing her gaze on the magnetic alphabet letters stuck to her fridge, the ones that she had bought for Grace to play around with when she came over at the weekend...

Alicia ran her fingers through her hair and thought for a moment, then she swept up the letters into a group at the top of the fridge, even wiping out the message _Love you Mommy_ that Grace had put there last time she came to stay as she looked at the letters again and the words ran through her head:

"Left to ash...Left ..._Left!_"

She grabbed the _L _and set it down:

_What was next?_

Her mind was fizzing with thoughts that she couldn't comprehend as the words appeared in her mind.

"_Ash." _She stated, seeing the sharp lines of the capital letter.

She set down the letter _A._

Then she paused.

"Left to ash blown on zephyr wind..._Zephyr!_"

The Z came next.

She knew she was sweating and feeling dizzy as her mind worked faster than she had ever thought it could.

"_The east...no...No the ..."_

__She closed her eyes and saw the letters marked out as if written inside her mind.

"_Arise Reborn!"_ She exclaimed, grabbing first the _A_ and then the _R._

Then she focussed again...

"Flesh and steel under the skies of Riverton..."

She shook her head..._little Riverton_...what did that mean?

_Alicia got it. _

"It's _not _a capital R..."

The word flashed to her mind as she grabbed the letter _U._

"Under!" She said, becoming slightly breathless as she worked.

"_What's next, what is it? What the hell is it?"_ She said aloud.

Then she thought about the words again:

"Shall live in peace..._S!_"

She slid the _S_ down at the end of the letters, then she sat down exhausted on a chair beside the kitchen table.

She breathed a couple of times as her head span again - then she looked back at the lettering as her eyes filled with confusion and she read out the word she had spelled:

"_Lazarus?" _She wondered in a hushed voice.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Far up in the hills that overlooked Riverton, a tower had just been constructed.

The tall structure looked almost like a metal light house, but the control room on the top floor led out onto a viewing area that gave a view of the whole of Riverton.

Lucien Fairfax gripped the rail as the wind blew through his fair hair and his ice blue eyes scanned the town that lie dark set below a shaded night sky:

_"It looks so small."_ He remarked.

His assistant, a tall woman named Tara, with dark red hair who like her commander wore the black uniform of the ACR, smiled.

"Everything is ready, Sir." She informed him, "The work on the old industrial site over East Riverton is completed. There were no questions asked, when our people claimed they wanted to set up recycling plants permission was granted. They had no reason to be suspicious of anythng. And now we have the reprocessing plant up and running and the compound is ready for the prisoners. The laser strike can be fired any time from now and will remain effective for eight hours."

Fairfax turned and looked at her.

"_We strike in the morning."_ He decided, "I'll move the troops into each sector of the town so that we have full ground cover. We can't seal off the whole of the town by the electric fencing but we can isolate East Riverton and set up road blocks by the two main exits. The minor ones can wait; by the time people realize what's happening they will have very little time to try and get out. I'm anticipating problems with local law enforcement but my men are well armed."

Then he thought about another matter that needed to be dealt with.

"Have the men issued with the new shatter bolt guns but tell them the guns will _not_ be activated by main control until we are in battle, until we are faced with cyborgs who need to be instantly cut down. "

"But Sir we don't even know if the new weapons system works..."

He gave her a sharp look and she fell silent.

"As soon as we take over in Riverton I'll find a suitable candidate to test the fire power." He told her, "I'm sure this town is full of standard equipped cyborgs and we only need to perform the weapons test once."

Then he thought some more and had another idea.

"We could try the new bolt gun first to see how effective it is at delivering shocks to subdue prisoners. Then we can try the shatter bolt gun and study exactly what kind of damage it can do. "

He fell silent for a moment as he looked down again at Riverton.

Then he turned back to Tara.

"_I was nineteen years old when Victor MacKenzie tried to have me shot!"_ He said bitterly, "Now he's long dead this _is_ my entitlement! And I want his daughter found and brought to me. _And_ her child too, I'll send two of my Child Division officers to the school and they can pick her up with the non organic offspring - but I'll be sure to tell them Grace is not a carrier of the mutant cyborg gene. Her father is _not_ the cyborg who is raising her – Gadget adopted her. The child's father was human, I've seen her DNA. She will _not_ be harmed."

Tara thought about all she had learned about the first cyborg, the prototype Inspector Gadget.

"It should prove interesting to find out how Gadget was put together." She remarked, "I'm looking forward to the opportunity to lead the science team on a study of his robotics."

"Riverton _first_." Fairfax said to her, "_Then_ you can use the lab I built for you and do what ever you wish to the cyborgs you choose to dissect."

She smiled.

"Thank you Sir."

"That will be all." He replied, and as she left him alone at the top of the tower, the new leader of the reformed ACR looked out at the laser that was aimed towards Riverton and then he thought about the town again:

It seemed so small, everything always did... And he had tried so many times in the past to conquer and his efforts had come to nothing.

But this time he would _not_ fail...

Fairfax turned his thoughts to Alicia Mackenzie, about how she had once been treated like a princess by her father's people. His blood boiled as he pictured how she had changed; how she had taken a cyborg to her bed many times, even continuing the love affair while she was in prison..._She would certainly be made to pay for the betrayal of her kind..._

His eyes seemed to darken as he glanced down at the tattoo on the back of his hand that showed allegiance to the ACR. As the letters swirled and as he thought about how different his mark was to the others who had the same tattoo, he smiled:

_This time, he would win. This time, nothing would stop him..._

* * *

When morning came Penny woke up first, turning over and smiling as Gadget lay sleeping soundly beside her.

She watched him resting for a moment, then she kissed his cheek.

He stirred and gave a sigh but slept on.

She leaned close again and this time kissed his lips softly, then as he began to wake he returned her kiss as he slowly woke up.

His eyes opened lazily and he smiled.

"Morning Penny." He said, "_Please_ tell me we have time to waste before we have to get up..."

And he slid his arms around her and pulled her closer.

The bedroom door opened up and Maxie ran in, already wearing his school uniform.

_"Mommy, Uncle Gadget, it's morning, wake up!"_ He yelled enthusiastically.

Penny gave a sigh as she looked at her son.

"How can you be this excited about school, Maxie? And how can you be wide awake at _this_ time in the morning?"

Maxie smiled.

"Because I'm a kid!" He announced, "Hurry up, I want my breakfast!"

And as he bounded out of the room, Penny gave a sigh, looking into Gadget's eyes and feeling an ache because she wanted one more kiss, one more caress, just so that it would lead to much more -and now there was _no_ chance of that happening because her son was up early today...

"I'll get up and make breakfast." Penny said, giving Gadget another kiss, "You stay in bed for ten more minutes -I'll come back up and bring you a coffee and run you a shower."

Gadget looked at her hopefully.

"And then what?"

"And then I'll take Maxie to school." She replied.

As Penny walked out of the room, Gadget gave a sigh because that kiss had been one that seemed to linger as if his lips did not want to forget it in a hurry; he often felt this way when she wasn't by his side- he got an ache and all he could think about was being in her arms once more, especially right now:

_Lula's bad news was still at the back of his mind. _

But then he remembered how Penny had taken it so well and that made him feel a little better, simply to know that she wasn't devastated about it – she had told him over and over before they went to bed, what mattered was here and now and the happiness they could share, it made no sense to ruin that by missing something they could never have...

Gadget remembered Penny's words and it helped to ease his sadness, and as that sadness eased up he felt sure he was ready to face the day once more as Inspector Gadget, crime fighter.

* * *

"Come on Grace!" Taylor called out, "You'll be late for school!"

And he got into his patrol car and waited for her.

She came hurrying out of the front door and G2 followed, kissing her daughter goodbye as she got into the passenger seat next to Taylor.

G2 leaned in through the window and looked playfully at Taylor.

"I know you're running late but _don't_ put the siren on, Taylor. You'll get in trouble if you get caught!"

"I won't do that." He promised her.

Then he kissed her goodbye and they set off on their way.

As they pulled out of the driveway and headed up the road, Taylor glanced at Grace.

"Want to put the siren on?" He said excitedly

She laughed.

"_And_ the flashing lights!" She exclaimed.

As they sped off Taylor laughed again as the siren wailed and the lights flashed.

"_You won't be late now!"_ He exclaimed as cars gave way to let him pass and they sped on towards the school.

* * *

Alicia Mackenzie had also got up early that morning.

She had got up with the word _Lazarus _still burning away in her mind and by the time she reached the cybernetics lab she felt worked up again as memories came back of the way she had seen Eddie's body, of how shocked she had been to know what Lula had done to him.

She slowed her pace as she walked up the steps to the entrance, then she took a deep breath and tried to remember Eddie as he had been in life- and like Lula had said, he had _wanted_ to donate that tissue; _it had been his dying wish..._

As she reminded herself of that fact, walking back into the lab seemed so much easier.

She went down the corridor headed towards Lula's office.

When she got there and saw the door open she didn't bother knocking.

_"I need to talk to you."_

Lula looked up sharply and stared at Alicia, whose long dark hair hung about her shoulders in dark uncombed waves and the shadows under her eyes suggested she had been up half the night.

She didn't seem hysterical any more but she was fixing her with an intense look as she spoke again:

"I _really_ need to talk to you. Crazy things have been happening! I keep having weird dreams, Lula! _Eddie said East Riverton would burn! He said a cyborg city would rise from the ashes! And I saw Lucien Fairfax. He was a young guy who tried to set up my father many years ago and my father believed he had him killed. What if he's not dead?_"

Alicia had walked right into the room now and as she got closer to the desk Lula got up and walked around it and met her in the middle of the room.

"You've been under a lot of stress." She reminded her,"And finding out about your mother must have made it so much worse! And the way you lost Eddie was a shock too –"

"_And I saw Claw!"_ Alicia exclaimed, not caring how crazy she sounded because it was the truth, "I saw Claw and he told me, _The wolves are already at the gate!_ Who are the wolves?"

Lula stared at her as she shook her head."

I don't know about any of this, Alicia. But I _do_ know for a fact Claw is dead, he fell from a rooftop eight years ago. His body was taken to the morgue! _He's dead!_ These are nightmares, nothing more."

Alicia looked at her pleadingly.

"No it's _not _in my mind." She told her, _"And what is Lazarus?"_

The color drained from Lula's face and she stepped back around the desk and sat down heavily.

She gestured to the seat on the other side of the desk and her voice was hushed as she guessed Eddie must have said more than he realized while he was delirious...

"_The Lazarus Project."_ She said quietly, "That's what Lazarus means. It's a plan to one day transfer the human brain with the eyes intact into a body that's a combination of robotic technology, cybernetic parts and organs and cybernetic skin. It's rather like the way we took G2's android brain and eyes and put them into the human hybrid body. But this is the _other_ way around – building a machine with organs and tissue and skin made of smart cyber cells and then taking the human brain and attaching it, so the person is almost entirely android but human in appearance. That's why Eddie wanted us to take his brain and his eyes."

Alicia sat there in silence as she listened.

"We have the internal structure already built." She explained, "And we have artificial tendons and muscle to lie over the top too. The body has cybernetic organs and an outer structure of living metal. But we haven't got as far as implanting the brain. And even if we did, laying the nerves and the skin over the top of the body would cause terrible pain."

"But Gadget had an upgrade and –"

"It's _not_ like when Gadget had his reconstruction." Lula said, "He was heavily sedated for it, so heavily we almost couldn't wake him up again. This is _much_ worse. Anyone who went through that would suffer pain I can't describe as the body heals over and the nerves start to work and the first thing those nerves felt would be unbearable pain though the healing process. And the donor couldn't be anaesthetized because of the implant; we couldn't hit an implanted brain with that much sedative so soon after the procedure because the subject would die. So he would have to be awake to go through this."

"_This is what he wanted?"_ Alicia said quietly

Lula nodded.

Then she shook her head as she recalled what she knew about her former patient.

"I've never known a man like Eddie Lazarus." She said thoughtfully, "When he requested to be a part of this project I made some enquiries about the accident at the plant. I was told by one of the guys who witnessed everything on the security camera that after that place locked down, he just stood there and he could speak through the monitor and hear what was being said to him, and he knew he was fatally poisoned. But all he said was, _"Everyone got out. That's fine by me."_ And the guy said he had this look in his eyes, this calm, peaceful expression as if he had no fear at all. He was a _very _brave man, Alicia."

"So this project is named after him?" Alicia wondered.

Lula nodded.

Alicia looked back at her gratefully.

_"Thank you for telling me the truth."_

Then she thought some more about the nightmares once more.

"I can't make sense of those crazy dreams." She told her, "But I think they're _more_ than dreams."

"Maybe you should talk to the police about the circumstances of your mothers death." Lula suggested, "It might help to clarify things for you, help you put the bad stuff behind you."

Alicia got up.

"I'll do that." She replied.

She walked to the door and then glanced back.

"Thanks." She said again, "And I'm sorry about the way I spoke to you yesterday."

"That's quite alright." Lula promised her, "You were very upset and I completely understand why."

Then Alicia left the lab, planning to go straight to the Police Department, because she wanted to clear up this theory about her mother once and for all...

* * *

Taylor was parked up on the highway and not a single car had passed by in the last twenty minutes – the ones that had gone by earlier had all been within the speed limit, according to his built in radar...

He gave a sigh.

"I wish you could talk." He said to the ordinary patrol car, "Gadget's car is so much more fun!"

Then he switched on his internal radio and began tapping into police frequencies. It had become something he did just to check he wasn't missing out on the action – not that anything ever happened around here – because there was no crime in Riverton...

Taylor was just about to tune the radio again and switch it music when he heard a radio message:

_"I don't know what it's about but that's the second call we've had this morning – first at the kindergarten and now at the high school. That's two places in North Riverton and I just had another message come that they've been over to one of the schools in South Riverton. We've got units out to attend but I don't know what this is about – they just walked in and asked for all the kid's names, the kids who had cyborg parents. Said they were child welfare but they're from The Preservation of Humanity, an organisation affiliated to the former ACR. I don't like the sound of this. I'm heading over there now –"_

Taylor's eyes grew wider as he tuned in and broke into the conversation.

"Hey do you guys need any help?" He wondered, "I'm only out on the highway, I could be with you in around ten minutes!"

There was a pause.

Then one of the cops spoke up:

"_Get off this frequency, Dozy! Go play with your radar gun, this is a job for the big boys!"_

And the signal crackled and went silent, blocked by the cop who had spoken to him.

"I _am_ one of the big boys!" He said aloud.

Then Taylor's eyes filled with alarm.

"_The ACR?"_ He exclaimed.

Then he thought about it:

_Why the hell would an organization with links to the ACR be making enquiries at schools in Riverton, enquiries about kids who had cyborg parents?  
_Taylor's heart was pounding and he was starting to sweat now...

_He knew all about the ACR, he knew how much they hated cyborgs; how they believed they were a threat to humanity because they thought of them as mutants who were polluting the human gene pool..._

He looked up and down the highway and saw no sign of anything wrong; it could have been just another day but Taylor felt sure it wasn't. He knew he wasn't the smartest guy in the world or the sharpest cop, but he was _sure_ people like _that _didn't make enquiries at school unless..._unless they were after the kids!_

Taylor started up the car, pulling back on the road and speeding off in the direction of Grace's school. Only one thought was going through his mind now:

_If the ACR were involved, there was a threat somewhere – and he had to get Grace out of there, not just Grace but all the kids who might be at risk..._

As he drove, he tuned into Gadget's radio.

"_Gadget!"_ He said urgently, "I'm driving to school to pick Grace up - something weird is going on, I've heard police units have been sent out to three schools in the area because some people who used to be linked to the ACR are making enquiries about kids who have cyborg parents! I'm _not _taking any chances; I'm fetching Grace home!"

Then he listened, hearing nothing but silence.

The fields were passing like a blur as he stepped on the gas.

"Where _are _you?" He said as his voice rose in panic, then he grabbed his cell phone and called him.

The phone rang and rang.

"Come on!" Taylor said, turning the wheel sharply as the car spun the corner with a squeal of rubber, _"Come on, Gadget!"_

Then Gadget spoke.

"_You have reached Inspector Gadget. I am currently busy with police work; please leave a message after the tone and I will get back to you as soon as I possibly can."_

There was a beep.

"_Gadget there's some people linked to the ACR calling in at the schools! They're asking about kids who have cyborg parents! I'm going back to the school I'm getting Grace out of there. Call me when you get this message!"_

Then Taylor cut off the call as the patrol car mounted the sidewalk on a clumsy angle as he came to a stop outside the school.

* * *

The Gadget Mobile had no clue that Taylor had reached the car radio.

The car was snoozing in the sunshine as its battery recharged.

Gadget had no clue that Taylor had called him on his cell pone, either – because his cell phone was switched off and in the pocket of his trench coat and as he sat in Chief Quimby's office.

He gave a weary sigh on hearing Alicia say it again:

_"You're wrong, Chief! There is no way my father would have killed my mother!"_

The Chief felt a nerve in his eye twitch as he looked back at Alicia MacKenzie. If this wasn't such a sensitive matter he was sure he would have yelled at her as loudly as he often yelled at Gadget; the woman was nothing but trouble and even now she was on the right side of the law, she _still_ wouldn't accept the police were telling the truth...

"I know he was your father, Alicia." Quimby said as he took back the case file from her, "But you saw the evidence yourself, DNA evidence! That's pretty darned concrete these days!"

Alicia took in a slow breath and looked back at the Chief.

"Of course you think he killed her. You wouldn't think anything else! I know my father was a terrible man but I don't believe he killed my mother!"

And Quimby looked at Gadget and for once he felt sorry for him to think he would have to put up with this woman's protests about her father's innocence for as long as he was patient enough to listen to her out of compassion.

"Maybe it's all wrong." Alicia added, "Maybe that body isn't my mother's!"

Quimby thought about it for a moment

"Okay Alicia." He said, "I've got DNA samples of you and your parents on file because of your family's history. I'll run your DNA through a search to see if it comes up with a match shall I? It won't take five minutes and I know what the computer will say – you have two results- your mother, who was recently found murdered and your father, Victor, _who killed her!_"

Alicia glared at him as he raised his voice.

"Okay." She said, "Do it."

The Chief gave a sigh as he entered the system and tapped in some codes and then started the genetic search.

"It won't take a minute." He said again, "And then you can accept the truth because science with results as clear as this _doesn't_ make mistakes! Then perhaps you can go home and calm down and come to grips with all this and get back to your life!"

Hostility still lingered in her eyes as she looked across the desk at Chief Quimby.

_"I still think you're wrong."_ She stated coldly.

The machine bleeped and Quimby tapped a key.

As the results came up he nodded.

"I was right of course...Your DNA match confirms the body found is your mother. I'm sorry but that's what it says. It also states the definite DNA match to evidence of her attacker as being your father Victor. And it says..."

The Chief's eyes grew wider as he stared at the screen.

"_No..."_ He said under his breath.

Alicia looked at him in alarm.

"What?" She demanded, wondering what the hell could possibly happen to make this situation worse.

The Chief shook his head and tapped some keys and ran the program again.

"That _had_ to be wrong." He said, _"This smart technology...it's not so smart... it must have a glitch..."_

And Gadget stared at him, wondering why he had suddenly become so unnerved.

"What is it Chief?"

The results blinked up again.

The Chief had his eyes fixed on the screen.

"_I'll be damned..."_He murmured,"_I never would have known without your DNA, Alicia..."_

She leaned forward in her seat, tying to catch a glimpse of the screen but he turned it away from her.

Gadget got up from his seat.

"Sir, can I take a look?"

Quimby's eyes clouded with sorrow as he thought of Gadget's long association with Alicia and the fact that he was raising her daughter Grace who he thought of as his own flesh and blood...

_"This won't be easy."_ He told him.

Gadget stepped behind the desk and looked over the Chief's shoulder.

As he saw what had come up on the screen, it seemed for a moment as if the floor had fallen away beneath his feet.

"_No!"_ He said in a shocked, hushed voice.

Alicia got up too.

"Will someone tell me what the big secret is?" She snapped, grabbing the computer monitor and turning it around sharply.

Then she stared at the screen:

Victor Mackenzie's DNA was only present because it was linked to her late mother's corpse.

Beneath the maternal link was her paternal one, and as she read the words she dragged in a breath and tried to speak but no words would come.

She shook her head as she blinked back tears:

DNA had also confirmed that her father was _not_ Victor Mackenzie.

_The match confirmed beyond any doubt that Alicia's natural father was man formerly known as Scanlon Scolex - the late Doctor Claw..._

Quimby spoke up as he turned the screen away from her.

"I'm sorry." He said gently, "I know you regretted assaulting him with your father's reprocessing machine - but if it's any consolation at all he _was_ a menace to society and we are all a lot safer now he's gone! I just don't know what else to say to you, Alicia – apart from the fact that this could well have been the motive for murder. Claw was the guy your mother was involved with. Obviously Victor found out."

Alicia looked at Gadget and gave a sob.

Gadget stared at her as he couldn't even think about following his usual reaction to a distressed woman; his usual reaction would be to make an effort to comfort her, but instead as he looked at Alicia something else ran through his mind:

_This was Alicia, raised by a fanatical cyborg hating Victor MacKenzie...it had been bad enough for him to know she had been raised by a man who hated his kind so much he wanted to wipe them out – but her father was Claw? He had taken her to his bed, he had loved her, he had carried on loving her, allowed their affair to wreck his marriage, he was even raising her child for her –_ _and all the while Alicia was the daughter of Claw?_

He took in a sharp breath as he pictured little Grace smiling up at him and calling him Daddy:

_No, it wasn't her fault. He didn't even want to think of her as having Claw's blood..._

"_Gadget..."_ Alicia said tearfully, _"I didn't know...I can't believe it..."_

He stepped closer to her and put his arm around her.

At first he felt awkward but as she sobbed, he remembered she was still the same person he had known for so long and she was still the mother of Grace and that would never change.

Then he gave her a brief hug and let her go again.

"It's a shock, I know you've had a few of those lately but Alicia, it's _over_ now!"

As he said those words he looked into her eyes.

"Believe me, its _over!_ These are people who are dead now. _Don't_ let them wreck your life! You've turned everything around so well. Don't let this drag you back down again. You have to stay strong for Grace."

_"I'm going home."_ She said quietly and turned away and headed for the door.

Quimby looked sharply at Gadget.

"Make sure she gets home safely."

Gadget gave a sigh.

"_Again?"_

The Chief glared at him.

"That's an order!" He snapped, "She's in a real mess. She needs to go home and rest. Make sure she gets home okay!"

By now Alicia had left the office and as Gadget turned to follow her he felt a moment of panic as he left the office and glanced down the corridor and saw no sight of her; _she was distressed and he knew the Chief was right, she did need to be taken home even though he didn't want to be around her right now, not until he had got used to the idea of her family ties..._

Then he looked the other way and spotted her leaning against a wall as she tried to calm down. She was shaking and crying all over again.

Gadget walked up to her and put his arm around her.

"I'll take you home Alicia." He said quietly, "You'll be fine, you just need to rest. I'm sure it's all over now, there can't be any _more_ shocks coming your way! Let's go."

And he stayed beside her, helping her to walk out of the building.

She was weak and unsteady all over again and as they went over to where the car was parked and she got in the back, he closed the door and then got in the driver's seat, planning to take her home and get out of there as quickly as he could - because right now he had a _lot_ to come to terms with and he needed to be alone to do it...

* * *

Taylor hit the buzzer at the closed door.

"Who is it?" Asked the woman in the school office.

"I'm Taylor...Deputy Taylor Braydon of Riverton Police!" He said breathlessly "Let me in, it's _urgent!_"

As he waited for the door to buzz he felt nervous; he didn't usually carry his gun but it was there beneath his coat now, fully loaded and ready to use if the ACR were planning something terrible...

Taylor had never even carried his gun before. He had been trained in how to use it but he _still_ hated to carry the thing around with him...

The door buzzed and he pushed it and went into the school.

The kids were all in their classes right now and the place seemed silent.

He walked through the entrance and went over to the reception area.

"I'm Deputy Braydon." He said again.

The woman who had been working at a PC in the school office got up from her seat and walked over to the reception area and slid back a panel of glass.

She smiled at him, recognizing him at once as she waited for his eyes to light up and for him to give her that slightly dumb but loveable smile he usually had for everyone...but instead he looked worried.

"_I need to talk to you about something. It's urgent, it's police business."_

Then he blinked, feeling sure he knew her from somewhere...then he remembered a day when he had been out on the highway and missed the speeders because her car had broken down and he had turned on his charm... he knew her now, he recognized her blonde hair and her pretty face and those glasses she wore that seemed to enhance her sparkling eyes. She had been the girl who had made him remember how it felt to be attractive again; they'd met not long after Delia had turned out to be the Riverton Bomber...

He remembered her name.

"Evie!" He said.

She smiled.

"It's good to see you Taylor – but what's the matter?"

"_Well it might nothing but..."_

He was getting really worked up now, she could tell by the nervous look in his eyes.

"Just a minute." Evie said, and stepped away from the glass and opened a door beside it, inviting him into the office.

Taylor stepped inside and she closed the door again.

"So what's this about?"

Taylor ran his fingers through his hair and took a deep breath.

"This sounds crazy but there's this organization, they're a preservation of humanity group- they've got links to the ACR, or they used to have links to them... they're anti cyborg... and they've called at three schools this morning and-"

The buzzer sounded.

Evie had been standing there, patiently looking up at Taylor, who was really worked up as he tried to explain - and she was sure he would make perfect sense if he just slowed down a little bit and she had ten minutes to listen, but someone was at the door now...

She went over to the intercom.

As she spoke into Taylor gave a sigh and thought about everything he had heard on the radio.

He wasn't sure about this, maybe there was no threat at all...perhaps he had got himself worked up, especially after that cop had called him dozy and told him to go and play with his radar gun, treating him like a stupid kid...

Taylor was very much aware that he was carrying a loaded gun and as the thought of it made him feel even more nervous he wondered if maybe he _was_ too dozy to be a cop, maybe he had got all this wrong...and if he'd got it right, what then? He had _never_ been in a potentially dangerous situation in his life and he wasn't sure how he could handle it- even though he often looked at Gadget and wished he could be a hero just like him...

Evie turned back to him once more.

"Okay, start again – slowly! Who _are_ these people? Are they an illegal organization?"

But Taylor's eyes widened as a sudden thought hit him and sent a chill through his partly mechanical body.

"Who was that? Who did you just let in?"

"Child Welfare."

His face turned pale.

"But they might be –"

"This is a big school!" Evie explained, "We have all kinds of kids here – some of them have problems, some of them get in trouble. It's not the first time they've ever called here –"

_"They're not who you think they are!"_ He exclaimed, not caring how crazy that statement sounded.

A flicker of alarm showed in Evie's eyes and then she looked over at the main reception, where two women were now waiting.

_"I've never seen either of them before."_ She murmured.

Taylor stepped back into the doorway of an open store room where the shelves were stacked with stationary.

"_Go and talk to them."_ He said in a low voice, _"Get them in here. If there's a problem I'm armed –"_

Evie's eyes grew wider as he drew out a gun and checked the weapon with shaking hands.

"And I can call for back up." He added, tapping behind his ear, "I've got a built in radio. Just get them in here and make sure you lock the door. If there's a problem they won't be going anywhere."

Evie looked back at him with frightened eyes, then turned back to the main reception, walking over to the visitors and trying not to show her unease. She went out through the door and met them as they stood there in the hallway.

The two women were dressed in plain, smart business attire and the taller one with cherry red hair that was feathered into a jaw length bob that looked sleek around her face seemed younger than the slightly shorter, dark haired woman whose large eyes fixed on Evie as she flashed her ID.

"I'm Sandra and this is Velma. We are from the children's welfare branch of the Preservation of Humanity – it's a charity set up to see how children of cyborg parents differ in their development to children of non cyborg parents. We would just like to take a look at the pupils attending your school who fit those criteria. I believe you have six of them?"

Velma spoke up.

"Five." She corrected her, "The MacKenzie child is _not_ a cyborgs daughter. Gadget's not her father. But we will definitely need to see her too."

Velma looked at Evie.

"We need those children brought out of class and into a suitable room where we can talk to them."

And as she spoke the woman shifted slightly, not realizing her jacket shifted too - and to Evie's horror she caught the briefest sight of a weapon at her side.

Evie felt frozen by fear as the woman looked hard at her. _Then she recalled that Taylor was here, he was armed and he could hear everything that was going on, too..._

"I'm not sure this is legal." She stated.

Velma explained further:

"Two years ago the government signed the open door policy on reporting progress of cybernetically altered subjects, designed to dispel misunderstanding about what such alterations can cause when a human being is mutated with living metal. Under section six of that policy we, as a charitable society concerned for the welfare of children, have a right to make this request. If you refuse the penalty could be six months in jail."

And Velma smiled.

"The children, please..." She paused, checking her name badge, "Evie." She added.

And Evie looked back at both of them, feeling her blood turn to ice because for a society that wanted to keep humans free of artificial changes, they certainly didn't look human at all: _Their clothes were too neat and pressed, their eyes so fixed and staring, as if they were looking straight through her._

Evie recalled what Taylor had told her to do.

"Please," She said, "Come in and have a seat over here by the window...Just wait here in the main reception I have to go back through the office to draw up the list of kids and then I'll contact the classrooms and ask them to come along to the office. "

The two women took a seat by the window, glanced at each other and then looked around the reception while they spoke in low voices.

Evie walked back through to the office and pushed the door, not closing it but making sure most of the view of the room beyond was hidden, then she ran back to the open doorway where Taylor was hiding.

"She wants me to bring the kids –"

"I know," He whispered, "That's okay. Get the kids into the office but tell them to be _quiet_. Then go back out and tell those nazi child snatchers they'll have to wait for fifteen minutes. Then say you'll call a couple of the classes again, and when you come back through that door, you lock it, then you and the kids get out through this window and take the school bus over there."

Evie stared out the window at the small school bus that was parked outside. The keys were in the ignition because the driver had gone off for a quick break before taking an upper school class on a day trip to the local museum. They were planning to leave in a round thirty minutes...

"Can you drive?" Taylor wondered, thinking this could be the only hole in the plan.

Evie nodded.

"But where do I go?"

He thought about it.

"Get onto the highway at the end of the street, keep going for two miles and that should take you to the junction where you can turn left and head out of Riverton. Just keep going until you're out of town. Then call the parents of the kids and let them know they're safe."

"What about you?" She wondered.

He looked afraid but he managed to smile.

"Don't worry about me, Inspector Gadget's not the _only_ hero around here!"

Evie fell silent for a moment, thinking about how dangerous this situation had become.

"_They've got guns, Taylor!"_

His grip tightened on his own weapon.

"Don't worry about me, I told you before, I'll be okay."

He looked down at her and saw fear in her eyes.

As she looked up at the tall cyborg cop she blinked back tears.

"_I'm scared."_ She whispered.

Taylor carefully held onto the weapon, keeping his clumsy finger away from the trigger as he gave her a brief, tight hug and then let go again.

"You'll be okay." He promised her, "Don't worry Evie. Just go and get those kids and remember, keep them in the office when they get here, keep the door closed."

And as she looked into his eyes she felt a spark of hope because all of a sudden, Taylor Braydon, who was not the smartest cop in the world, had a look of immense courage about him.

"_I'll get you all out." _He promised her.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Evie had left the office by the back door to go to the classrooms and fetch the children.

Taylor stood in the store room with his hand shaking as he held onto his gun. Then he drew in a deep breath and slid it back into its holster and thought about his internal radio:

_Now would be a good time to try and call Gadget..._

Then he wiped all thoughts of Gadget out of his mind as he thought about G2, at home with baby Alice...

He took a deep breath, remembering he was far away from the main reception where they waited; those women couldn't hear him unless he spoke aloud...

He accessed the internal dial out mode and hit G2's number.

The number glowed, indicating it was ringing.

"_Please be home..."_ He whispered as he started to sweat harder.

She picked up the call.

"Taylor?" She said in surprise, "You're calling through your internal communication wire?"

"_Shh..."_ He said, keeping his voice low:

"Listen to me this is _urgent!_ Get Alice put her in the car and get out of Riverton. There's something going on and you could both be in danger. It's connected to the ACR - and _don't_ worry about Grace- I'm taking care of everything –"

"Grace?" She exclaimed, "Taylor, _what_ is going on?"

"I don't have time for this!" He said, struggling to keep his voice low, "Just do as I say - get the baby out of Riverton. Don't pack, don't waste time just get the baby in the car and drive! And there might be road blocks; they might be stopping traffic, checking for cyborgs. If they do that, put your sunglasses on. _Don't_ let them see your electronic eyes."

"But Taylor, I can't just leave –"

"I'll be with you soon." He promised her, "Just take the baby and go. Don't argue with me, just _do_ it! And if you can't get out of Riverton go straight to the Police Department and find Chief Quimby. He'll make sure you're both protected."

"I'd rather wait for you."

_"NO!"_ He said quickly _"Just go. I'll call you later. I love you."_

He ended the call, closing his eyes for a moment as he said a silent prayer that G2 would do as he asked.

Then the door opened and Evie came in followed by the children. She ushered them closer to the store room.

"_Shh."_ She reminded them.

Taylor looked at the kids and smiled, noticing they seemed a little confused.

"We're going to play a game." He whispered, "It's a bit like hide and seek. But you have to stay real quiet and we are getting out of the window, okay?"

And the children crowded into the store room.

Evie glanced at Taylor.

"I'll go through and stall them." She said nervously.

Taylor nodded. "Hurry up." He whispered, turning his back to the kids and slowly and carefully sliding the window up.

Evie went through to the main reception, closing the door firmly behind her.

She forced a smile at the two women who sat there looking at her as if looking through glass.

"I'm just waiting for the teachers... three of the kids are busy finishing up a project and the others should be along in around fifteen minutes. Would you like some coffee?"

She smiled again.

The women glanced at each other and then looked back at Evie and both shook their heads.

"Then...I'll just go and..."

Evie thought desperately for an excuse to leave.

"I'll just go and compile that list of names you wanted so you have all your paperwork– I'll be about ten minutes."

She turned her back and walked towards the office door, opened it quickly and went through, then closed it calmly, breathed a sigh of relief and then turned the lock with a trembling hand and hurried to the back of the room.

* * *

Taylor was already out of the window and helping the children climb out. One of the kids who had just climbed out was Emily Smith, Gadget's daughter by Lula.

"Come on." He said quietly to Evie as he lifted a little boy through and out to the other side, then he reached for the last child in the line, knowing her at once by the way her dark hair was tied back with a lace bow.

"Up you get, Grace, come to Uncle Taylor –"

He stopped right there, staring at the little girl who had looked up at him:

_This was not Grace..._

Taylor looked back at the kids who stood beside him and counted _four._ Then he glanced at the little girl..._five._..now his heart was racing in panic..._someone was missing. That person was Grace..._

He looked sharply to Evie.

"Where's Grace?"

"The teacher asked her to take some of her nature paintings to show the kids in the year below. She's over in the other block – if we wait we'll see her come out, she'll walk along that path right by the school bus."

He nodded.

"Okay, you come over here now and I'll get you out too. We'll get the kids in the bus."

Evie climbed onto a chair beside the window and Taylor reached in and wrapped his arms around her, lifting her out and as her feet hit the ground again he briefly smiled.

"I _told_ you I'd get you all out!" He said, and for a moment his eyes sparkled.

_Then he thought about what little time they had left._

"Get in the bus." He told her.

Evie ran over to the bus and got into the driver's seat. The kids followed and Taylor stood by the open door and watched across the path but saw no sign of Grace.

Then Evie turned back to Taylor as she realized something.

_"The gates are locked!"_

"Keep watching out for Grace." He told her, "I'll fix the gates."

Taylor ran across the path and crossed the short distance to the school gates.

He grabbed the heavy bars and tried to prise them apart, quickly giving up because is strength was not super human; what was considered very strong human was simply not enough...

He pulled up his sleeve and drew out the metal rod from his arm and jammed it into the control panel beside the gates, feeling a sharp jolt as he sent a power surge through the system.

The lock snapped back and he pushed the gates wide open, then as he slid the rod back into his arm he ran back towards the bus.

"Have you seen her yet?" He asked, scanning the empty pathway.

Evie shook her head.

"She won't be too long; she's just showing her work to the class..."

Taylor touched the metal stud at the back of his ear as he heard an internal signal.

He focussed on the number at the back of his mind: G2 was calling him via his internal wire - and she was calling from her cell phone, which meant she was no longer at home.

"Where are you?" He said quickly.

As she replied he felt a wave of relief.

"I'm in the car, I've got the baby, and I'm three miles outside of Riverton. A truck overturned just up ahead and we're stuck in a tailback. I can't go backwards _or_ forwards!"

"You got out?"

_"Yes! Now hurry up, I'm waiting for you!"_

Taylor felt an ache in his heart.

He had always dreamed about being a hero but now it was happening he had decided he didn't want the risk that went along with it; he just wanted to get Grace and get the hell out...

_But he knew he couldn't do it._

"Taylor?" G2 said again, "When will I see you?"

He took in a deep breath as he felt tears prick at his eyes.

"_I love you, G2."_

"Taylor? What's going on?"

Now she sounded scared and it was breaking his heart.

"I'm _not_ leaving town until I know there's no threat to people like you and me and Gadget and our kids." He stated, "I'm a cyborg and I'm _not_ running from the ACR or anyone linked to them. I'm staying and if I have to fight I will."

"Taylor just get out of there!" She said tearfully.

"_I'm getting Grace out."_ He stated, _"But I'm staying behind. I love you, I'm sorry."_

Then Taylor cut off the call and turned back to the bus.

Evie was staring at him; she had just heard every word he had said.

"You're staying even if there's going to be trouble with the ACR?"

He nodded.

"_They're anti cyborg. I'm a cyborg. It's my fight."_

Evie's gaze lingered on Deputy Taylor Braydon as she thought he was probably the bravest man she had ever met, and if he was right about the kind of trouble this town was facing, she knew she would probably never meet him again...

_"Thank you for getting the kids out."_ She said quietly, _"I'll never forget you."_

And Taylor looked into her eyes.

"As soon as Grace comes out I'll get her on the bus. Then you start the engine and get out of here."

The peace was shattered by a gunshot.

Evie glanced back and gave a gasp.

_"They shot the lock out?"_

Taylor caught a glimpse of the two women heading for the store room.

There was no time; he would have to get Grace out another way...

He slammed the bus door shut.

"_Go!"_ He said sharply.

Evie started the engine and looked back at him.

The two women were making for the window and as the one named Velma began to climb out, she saw she had a weapon in her hand.

"Come with us, she's _armed!_"

"I can't, I have to get Grace!"

Evie blinked back tears as she looked at Taylor.

"Please, you'll be killed!"

"_Just go!"_ He yelled, _"Go Evie, there's no more time!"_

She pulled sharply away from the parking space and turned the car onto the driveway, then sped through the gates and out into the open road, turning sharply as she made for the highway.

* * *

As the bus drove off Taylor saw Grace walking out from the other building, carrying some paintings in her hand.

"_Grace!"_ He yelled as he started to run, _"Come with me – we have to get out!"_

She stared for a split second, then she saw two women getting out of the store room window next to the school office.

They both had guns, but Grace had _never_ seen a gun like it even on TV: the barrel was glowing with what looked like electricity running through a thick wire...

She dropped her paintings and ran towards her Uncle Taylor, who was heading for the open gates.

Taylor stopped at the gate and glanced back, now seeing no sign of the two women as Grace dashed to meet him.

He hugged her and then let go again, looking towards the gateway.

"We have to keep going. People are after us, _bad_ people. G2 took the baby and left, she's safe. I'm getting you out of town too."

Grace smiled as she looked up at him.

"Thanks for rescuing me!"

He smiled back at her.

"No problem, Grace. Let's get out of here."

And as the gun slammed into his side he gave a cry of pain as Grace screamed, seeing the two women who had stepped out from behind the trees that grew by the gates. _The taller one had shot Taylor with the weapon and as he fell to the ground his eyes were closed and he was breathing heavily._

The other woman grabbed hold of Grace, who kicked her and sank her teeth into the back of her hand.

Then Grace was held firmly, unable to struggle.

"_No_, little human!" She said sharply, "That is _not_ the human way! _Animals bite. Cyborgs are aggressive_. People do _not_ behave that way."

Grace started to cry.

"_Why did you hurt my Uncle Taylor?"_ She wailed as he lay unconscious on the ground.

Her question got no answer.

Velma looked at her colleague and smiled.

"We'll take the MacKenzie girl in the car."

And then she looked down at Taylor, who had been knocked out by the charge from the stun gun. He was on his back and his micro chips were clearly visible through his partly open shirt.

"And call for transport for him." She said, "Those chips are standard grade. _He's_ _just what Commander Fairfax was looking for – a standard grade cyborg for weapons testing."_

* * *

Gadget was parked up in the place where he often sat, by a big sign that said _Welcome to Riverton._

_His cell phone was off._

_His radio was off._

He had even told the Gadget Mobile to _just shut up _when he had asked him what was wrong.

And he had just sat there in the car thinking about Alicia and how he could never change the fact that she was Claw's flesh and blood...

He felt as if that woman had been damned from the day she was born; raised by Victor MacKenzie, leader of the ACR, who had raised her to hate cyborgs and then killed her mother over her affair with the man who would one day become Claw.

That woman had never stood a chance to live a normal life, not with that kind of start in life...

_But he didn't hate her for it; none of it was her fault..._

He gave a heavy sigh and looked at the time, it was almost eleven and all he could think about right now was going back to work and forgetting all about everything except work, even for just a little while, to try and get some normality back into the day.

He switched on the radio and then reached for his cell phone.

As he turned it on he noticed he had a message, so he quickly accessed it.

On hearing Taylor's voice as he began to explain what had happened, Gadget's eyes grew wide in alarm.

Then he dropped the phone and started up the engine, waking the Gadget Mobile sharply.

_"We have to get over to the school and get Grace- something's wrong!"_

The car fired up its engine and sped off down the highway.

Then Gadget's phone rang again.

He snatched it up quickly.

_"Taylor?"_ He said.

"No Gadget it's me." The Chef replied, "Get over here _right now_ – there's been some serious incidents. Four local schools have had visits from a group linked to the ACR. They were trying to take kids of cyborg parents. Nothing happened to the kids because we got squad cars out there to deal with the situation but three of my men have been shot. _And there was an incident at Graces school too._"

"Sir I know that, I'm on my way right now – I got Taylor's message!"

The Chief spoke again.

"_No Gadget, it's too late_. Witnesses saw what happened from the classroom windows. There were six children - two of them were Emily and Grace. Emily got away with the others. Taylor got them in the bus with a member of the staff and they got away safely. But Taylor was knocked out with a stun gun. They took Grace and another vehicle took Taylor. I don't know what's going on, I don't even know where to start looking but we _will _find them, Gadget, we _will_ find them again."

Gadget's eyes blurred with tears as he thought about the kids:

_Emily got out. His daughter by Lula Smith was safe. _

_But Grace was missing?_

He gripped the phone harder.

"I'll be with you soon, Chief." He replied.

Then he cut off the call, wiping tears from his eyes as he thought about Alicia's daughter who he loved as his own child.

"_Rocket speed."_ He said, and the Gadget Mobile turned out the rocket power and as it fired up the car shot off down the road like a blur, heading for the Police Department.

* * *

_As Gadget was speeding along the highway, over at the cybernetics lab Lula Smith was sobbing on the telephone, partly because she was afraid for Grace and partly because Evie had just put Emily on the phone to reassure her that her daughter was safe. _

_At the Police Department, Quimby was busy coordinating his men to be watchful for more suspected ACR activity. He was also studying a map of Riverton and wondering what the hell had happened to Grace and Deputy Taylor._

_While this was happening Alicia MacKenzie was sleeping on her bed, in a sleep helped along by the glasses wine she had downed when Gadget had left her alone at home once more._

_And over at the Mayor's palatial home, as she called again and demanded to speak to Quimby only to be told he was too busy dealing with a crisis, Mayor Wilson slammed the phone down and looked out of the window towards the town that had once been so safe and wondered what the hell was going on..._

* * *

The time had now come:

The laser beam high up in the hills shifted into position, lowering with precision as it powered up and then a stream of energy flowed out like shimmering translucent silk, spreading far and wide, streaming out over Riverton as if coating the place in mist.

That mist shimmered and faded, leaving the town much as it looked before, except that everything had been frozen in time.

Cars were at a standstill, people walking in the streets had been frozen in a split second, even birds in the sky hovered like a painter hand taken up a brush and set them there against the sky, wings frozen in flight.

_The city was silent._

Then large convoys of trucks and heavily armoured vehicles began to move in.

_This was it; Riverton was taken over and eight hours from now, when the troops had taken control and the electrified fences were up the laser's effect would wear off - too late for the citizens of Riverton, whose home town had now become a giant prison..._

* * *

While the town was frozen and the enemy were setting up barriers round it, Taylor Braydon knew none of this.

He had been shocked, he knew it as soon as he tried to raise his head and felt shooting pains run through his body.

He had known enough about cyborgs to know about the weapons that had been rumoured to have been developed to subdue them; he had been hit with a stun gun that fired a bolt that would kill a human, but for his partly cyborg body, it had been enough to shock his electrical system and he shivered and breathed hard as the pain began to wear off.

It was dark, he knew he was in the back of a vehicle but that was all he knew; the doors were locked and the windows blacked out and covered with mesh grilles. His hands had been cuffed behind his back, the cuffs were strong and even with his cyborg strength he couldn't break out of them.

The vehicle was moving and it went along he thought about Grace and gave a sob:

_He had been so close to getting her out..._

_But at least Evie had got away with the other children, including Gadget's daughter Emily..._

He didn't want to think about what they might have done to those kids; the ACR believed all children of cyborgs carried the cyborg gene that made them a threat to humanity...

Then he wondered where he was being taken and what would happen to him when he got there and he gave another sob.

"_Gadget..."_ He said tearfully, wishing he could hear him.

Then he blinked in the darkness as an idea came to him.

He focussed on his radio and tried to tune into Gadget's car.

But the screen lay dark and the frequency remained silent and it stayed that way; _the shot from the stun gun had knocked his system offline..._

Suddenly the vehicle came to a halt and the doors were opened.

Taylor barely had time to blink and get used to daylight once more as one of the men grabbed hold of him and dragged him out of the back.

He was still feeling shaky from the effect of the stun gun and as he stood up he was trembling.

As the guard grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back he had no strength to offer resistance.

He began to walk him through a large gate that had just swung open; here the fences were high and electrified. It slammed shut behind him and the guard marched him onwards, towards a metal door that was set into the structure of what had once been an old factory.

"This is the old industrial estate in East Riverton!" He said in surprise, "I know where I am!"

"It's not the way you recall it, cyborg." The guard replied as the door slid open and he started to walk him down a long, brightly lit corridor, "This is the property of the ACR now. We have compounds for prisoners, factories to dispose of non compliant cyborgs and we have the research facility, right here."

Taylor felt fear shoot through every part of his body as he heard those words:

_This was a research facility?_

_He could only think of one reason why the ACR would want to research cyborgs:_

_To take them apart..._

He was sobbing quietly as he was led into a large, white room.

A woman in a lab coat walked over to him.

"Thank you." She said to the guard, you can leave us now. But take the cuffs off him first."

Taylor looked at the red haired woman in surprise: _she was allowing his cuffs to come off? _

But the woman didn't look at him; she was still speaking to the guard as he unlocked the cuffs.

Taylor thought about making a run for it but the shot from the stun gun had left him feeling too weak to even try and he could clearly see she wore a weapon at her side; he knew if he tried to make a break for it he wouldn't get very far at all...

The guard left the room and the woman finally looked at Taylor, who was standing there with tears staining his face and a fearful look in his eyes.

"You are here to help us with research." She told him. "If you are compliant this will be an easy experience for you. If you are _not_ compliant we will use force. If you help us I will recommend you for release after you have met certain criteria. So you won't be sent to the reprocessing plant. Do you understand?"

Taylor's eyes widened a little.

_"Yes."_ He said quietly.

Then he gave another sob.

"_Please don't hurt me..."_

She turned away as two more lab assistants came into the room and she instructed them to bring over the scanning equipment.

As she turned back to Taylor he was hoping she might reassure him that he wouldn't be harmed, but instead she began to unzip his leather jacket.

"What are you doing?" He said in a scared voice.

"I need to take off some of your clothes, just from your upper body so I can see what kind of modifications you have."

She slipped his jacket off and dropped onto the floor and then unbuttoned his shirt and took it off him, handing it to the lab assistant who had just picked up his jacket.

"Get rid of these." She said to her.

"Those are my clothes!" Taylor protested.

"You don't need them now." The woman replied.

"Who are you?" He demanded.

"I'm Doctor Tara Crane." She replied, "I am second in command to our great leader Commander Fairfax, leader of the ACR. He gave me this lab to use as I wish and he asked that I use a cyborg for some experimental procedures that are of great importance to our security forces."

He looked into her eyes but saw no trace of emotion, much like the two women who had come to the school to take the children away...no compassion, no humanity...and people like her thought _cyborgs_ were the enemy?

"This way." She said, taking his arm and leading him over to an examination couch.

It was much like the one in Lula's lab but as he recalled how willing he had been for Lula to work on him, he knew for sure he _didn't_ want this woman to touch him because he knew she wanted to harm him.

"Get on the couch." She instructed.

Taylor sat on the couch and briefly put his hand to his eyes as he sobbed again, then he pushed his hair out of his eyes and blinked, clearing away the tears that blurred his vision.

He saw from the equipment in here this place was more like an operating room than a lab and as he went weak with fear she eased him back against the couch and strapped his wrists and ankles with secure restraints.

Then she picked up a clipboard and began to make notes.

"When did you choose to accept robotic alteration?"

"Just over a year ago. I was in an explosion."

"And all your fittings are standard? "

"Yes." He said quietly.

"Do you have any additional modifications?" She wondered.

He thought about his communications wire; his only chance to get a message to Gadget...

"_No."_ He told her.

"So all your robotics are in your upper body?"

He nodded.

She looked hard at him.

"Are you integrated with the latest living metal through to your skeletal structure?"

"Yes." He stated, feeling a creeping sense of unease.

She moved a large scanner closer and lowered it over his body, keeping it there while she took pictures of his internal structure.

As she moved the scanner away again, he breathed a sigh of relief to know that so far nothing had been painful.

"What are you going to do to me now?" He said nervously.

As she looked at him he met her gaze, looking right into her eyes.

"_Please tell me because I'm scared."_

Tara reached over and gently stroked the row of micro chips that ran down his chest.

He shivered and the sensation felt pleasurable.

"_You like that?"_ She wondered.

Taylor managed a nervous smile.

"If this is going to turn into a hot fantasy I want you to know I'm up for _anything_ as long as you let me go!" He exclaimed, desperately hoping he was right and this wasn't some terrible place where he would be tortured as he had first imagined.

Tara gently traced her fingertips over his chest, watching as he closed his eyes and breathed deeply.

Then her hand slid down his body and as she slid it down he gave a sigh.

She was still tracing her fingertips over his skin and he had started to give into the pleasurable sensation.

Then her hand moved down to his crotch and she felt his clear arousal through the fabric of his jeans.

"_You've got good nerve and sensation design to respond like that."_ She remarked, and then she took her hand off his body.

Taylor took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment, thinking about how that wire was his only means of communication with the outside world now...

Then she lowered the couch until he was flat on his back and a wave of panic surged through him once more.

She turned away and crossed the lab and began to uncover a tray of medical instruments.

Taylor blinked away tears and accessed his internal wire, as the numbers lit up he scanned for Gadget's cell phone and called the number.

When he heard the answer phone message, he turned his head and looked at Tara, who still had her back to him.

He was tearful again because he knew once he left the message he would be heard speaking and she would find the wire..._but this could be his last chance to call for help because he didn't know what she was going to do to him next..._

He heard the beep and started to talk.

"_Gadget, help me! I'm in East Riverton, the ACR have got me in a lab! I'm scared!"_

Tara was back at his side in a second, roughly turning his head and spotting the small metal stud behind his ear.

She reached around and grabbed suitably sized wire cutters and snipped it off.

Taylor gave a yell of pain as a trickle of blood ran from what was left of the implant still buried inside his head.

"I would have pulled the whole thing out." She told him, "But I can't afford to damage you, we need you undamaged."

Taylor looked up at her in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"I will _not_ answer your questions, cyborg." She replied.

Pain throbbed where she had cut the antenna and Taylor lay there strapped to the table sobbing, wondering what she was going to do to him next.

"_Please don't hurt me."_ He said tearfully, _"Please..."_

But Tara just picked up her paperwork and walked out of the room and her assistants followed her, leaving him tied to the table and alone in the lab as he sobbed and cried and struggled in vain to break free of the restraints that held him down.

* * *

Grace glared at Velma as she set a glass of fruit juice down on the table in front of her - and Velma drew her hand back quickly, because that child was a biter.

_"So where am I?"_ Grace demanded, looking around the small but comfortable room the woman had led her to. There was a bed and a TV and a closet and the door on the other side of the room led through to the bathroom.

"We are in the living quarters of Main Control." She explained to Grace, "This building is set into the mountain, high up in the hills that overlook Riverton. Your mother will be along soon. Then you can be reunited."

Grace's eyes grew wider and carried a spark of hope.

"Is she taking me home?"

"No." Velma replied, "Grace MacKenzie is one of our people, but she's forgotten that. I'm sure after she's spent some time with our Commander he _will_ remind her of where her loyalties lie – and as soon as that's done with, she can see you. But how soon that happens is up to her. Would you like me to arrange for you to have some new clothes and some new toys while you stay here?"

Grace looked at her coldly.

"My stuff is at home where I live - _with my_ _family!_ And I _don't_ live with Grace; I live with G2 and Taylor! _And Inspector Gadget is my Daddy and when he finds out what you've done he's coming to get you!_"

Velma smiled as she shook her head.

"You don't understand, little Grace. We mean you no harm. We all want to love and protect you. We only care about the safety and welfare of organic human beings, people like you and me, _normal_ people who do _not_ have living metal in their bones! Those people who were raising you are mutants. They have no humanity left; they are selfish machines that want to live forever. Eventually they would have wanted you to be a cyborg and join them. That's what they do – they are an artificially created new breed of life and they have no place in civilized society."

Grace looked back at her and thought about what she had said.

_Then she remembered her Uncle Taylor, he was so kind and funny and she loved him like a second Daddy, but Velma had shot him. She knew the woman was lying; her Uncle Taylor had been right – these were bad people..._

But Grace also had her mother's deviousness about her and she drew on it greatly as she looked back at the woman who held her captive.

"So you're ACR?"

Velma nodded.

"That's right, Grace. We are an organisation who want to protect the human race, isn't that wonderful?"

Grace slowly nodded, deciding if she had any kind of chance to get out of here and find Uncle Taylor it made sense to try and get these people to trust her.

"Where is my Mommy?" She asked her.

"She is frozen, sleeping in time just like everyone else in Riverton." She told her, "We used a special laser beam to suspend time for a little while to enable us to secure the town and go into East Riverton, because we have done some _wonderful_ regeneration work over there! It's going to be a big research base where we can study the cyborgs and we can also keep them there, so they pose no more threat to the rest of us."

Grace thought about it..._was that where they had taken her Uncle?_

_She needed to call her Daddy_.

She felt sure he could help because he was the great Inspector Gadget, he could do _anything..._

"So you care about people." She remarked, "I get that. I think that's nice"

Velma smiled.

"I knew you would understand because you're such a bright child. Of course you may feel like we had to force this on you, but sometimes people need a little push."

Grace forced a smile as malice glittered in her eyes much like her mother when she was holding back anger.

"A little push." She repeated, picturing a big cliff, Velma at the edge and screaming as she gave her _a little push..._

And Grace giggled.

"What?" The woman wondered.

Grace shrugged.

"I just thought of something funny. Could you get me something to eat please? I'm starving. And get me some more juice too. And turn the TV on."

She noticed by the way the woman dashed around the place that she seemed very keen to please her and she recalled how her Daddy had told her that her real mother had once been someone very important in a _very_ bad organization...

It was making sense:

_She just had to act like she wanted to get along with these people and they would treat her okay._

Then she settled back on the comfortable sofa, secretly wondering how and when she could try and make some kind of a move to get out of here...

* * *

As the power of the laser began to shimmer and shift once more, it lifted from Riverton.

It lifted as fast as it had descended and as life instantly slid back into normal routine, Gadget's car sped on towards the Riverton Police Department and as he heard his phone beep he told the car to take over driving and he grabbed the phone, accessing his messages.

Crackling static came through, as if something had got in the way of the communication. He thought about his robotic ear and instantly turned up his hearing, filtering out the white noise as he heard a distant voice that sounded almost ghostly, blown on the wind, like it had been set out of step with the rest of the world in some way...

"_Gadget!" _

The voice was distant but he recognized it as Taylor's voice at once and felt a jolt; _he sounded terrified..._

"_Help me! I'm in East Riverton, the ACR have got me in a lab! I'm scared!"_

The car came to a halt as the brief message ended and Gadget got out, putting the cell phone back in the pocket of his trench coat.

One look around him at the people in the streets who were panicked and confused told him instantly that something was _very_ wrong somewhere - _but right now all he could think of was Taylor, alone in a lab in East Riverton while those ACR bastards tortured him..._

Gadget hurried into the building, pushing past armed cops who were on their way out to respond to the first of what he guessed would be many calls.

He reached the Chief's office and walked in without knocking.

The Chief was alone and studying a map of Riverton.

To walk into the Chief's office without knocking would_ usually_ have made the Chief yell at him, and not only yell but yell until his face turned red.

_But not today._

The Chief turned away from the map and looked at him. His face was pale and there was a shocked expression in his eyes.

_"We think they used some kind of laser weapon."_ He said in a hushed voice, _"We've just lost eight hours."_

Gadget frowned and checked his watch.

"It's just gone eleven, Sir."

Quimby shook his head.

"_The sun is setting."_

Gadget glanced out the window and stared at the sinking sun that was turning from yellow to gold.

"There is electrified fencing around the two main exits out of Riverton. There are road blocks on all other exits. They have armed troops on the streets and in the town centre there's a huge screen that's been constructed. We don't know what it's for. And East Riverton is a no-go zone. We thought it was part of a regeneration project for the factories. _We were wrong_."

Gadget was stunned to see tears in Quimby's eyes now.

"_We were wrong!"_ He said again, _"They've built a base there – a compound for the prisoners and a research lab and...and a reprocessing plant too! How could this have happened?"_

Gadget felt the room spin as a wave of dizziness swept over him and he took in a deep breath trying to fight off the rising panic inside him.

_"Taylor's in the East Riverton research centre. The ACR are holding him. I think they may have Grace too but –"_

"I have all my men trying to make a push through the town and over the bridge into East Riverton!" He snapped, "No one, not even _you_ can just walk in there! I _know_ Deputy Braydon's not the best cop in the world but he's one of the bravest of men. He got five kids out of that school and away to safety. Your Emily was one of them. We _will_ get him out of there; I have _no_ intention of leaving him to die! But we have to plan and move _carefully,_ Gadget!"

Gadget's mind was spinning.

"_I need to call Penny!"_

"Penny's at home. She's safe with Maxie. The ACR have no interest in so called _organic life_. They just want to round up the cyborgs. While he was getting the kids out of the school Taylor called G2 and warned her - she took the baby and left Riverton before the invasion. They're both safe."

Gadget breathed a sigh of relief.

Then he thought again about Taylor, his friend and colleague who had acted with such courage and paid such a terrible price.

"You do what you have to do to keep hold of this town Chief," He told him, _"But I'm going after Taylor. I'm getting him out of that place."_

The Chief put his hands on Gadget's shoulders and looked into his eyes.

Today was a day that left no room for petty squabbles; Quimby knew Gadget had been through hell in his unique lifetime and he had survived it all and if he was honest about it, he had come to love the man like his own son - and he wasn't about to lose him now.

"_Be careful, Gadget." _He warned him, "This isn't some minor incident that can be wiped out with a few squad cars for back up and some of your best gadgets – this is _much_ more."

And the Chief held his gaze for a moment, lowering his voice as he hoped his words would remain with Gadget and serve as a warning to keep him safe:

"_This is something we always hoped would never happen, this is what we feared and now the wolves are at the gate. This is a war, Gadget. Riverton is now at war."_


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

_Alicia felt the gun that was pressed to her temple before she opened her eyes._

She lie still for a moment, on her bed still wearing the short summer dress she had fallen asleep in after drinking some wine to calm her nerves after Gadget had left her at home.

_Maybe it was another nightmare._

She drew in a breath.

"Get up."

She still had her eyes closed.

"_You're not real."_ She whispered, _"Go away!"_

And she kept her eyes shut even though the gun against her temple was pressing harder.

She was expecting to blink, wide awake in the dream inside her head and see..._what? _

_Claw? Lucien? Maybe even her father back from the dead?_

He jabbed the weapon at her temple again and she snapped her eyes open.

Her eyes grew wider as she dragged herself up the bed, all the way until her back was pressed against the wall and she started to scream:

_This was no nightmare._

_This was happening:_

_There was a man standing over her bed wearing the uniform of the ACR, he was armed and he was reaching for her..._

* * *

The cybernetics lab was partly on lockdown.

The staff had been moved into the hospital in the next building and Lula was last to leave.

As she looked out of the window she saw armed police far in the distance, their cars blocking one end of the street as they opened fire on an armoured vehicle that rapidly returned fire.

Other shots were heard far in the distance and as she thought about her family she breathed a sigh of relief, if only because they were safe even if she was not:

Her husband had taken the kids on a few days break to the coast. Emily had stayed behind because she had some important school work to do at the time and she didn't want her to miss it. But Emily was safe now; Emily was out of Riverton and staying at a hotel with Evie, the woman from the school who had got the kids out with the help of Taylor Braydon...

She thought about Taylor and hoped he was safe too, then her heart ached as she wondered what would become of Emily's father:

_This was a war zone now. Of course Gadget would be out there defending Riverton..._

Lula walked into the lab and went over to the unit that needed a pass code to gain entry.

She keyed it in and opened up the door.

_The reconstructed face of Eddie Lazarus was still in there, preserved and waiting for the day to come when it became possible to revive him in the cyborg body._

She locked the unit and moved on to the main sealed unit, this one was long enough for a body to fit into and she unlocked the seal and lifted the lid.

Her eyes grew wider as she stared at the empty space within...

The body had been prepared right down to laying skin over the muscles and other tissues. It had all been set up, even the brain and eyes had been implanted- but the body had been locked away, preserved for a time when reactivation could have been safely possible.

_Now that body was gone._

Lula took in a shaken breath as she thought about the eight hours Riverton had lost whilst frozen in time...

_Someone had stolen the Lazarus Project?_

_They'd taken everything except the android's reconstructed human face?_

Then as she closed the lid she heard a boom in the distance and she ran to the window, spotting dark smoke pouring up into the air far off at the other side of town..._they were using bombs now?_

Lula hurried from the lab and locked the door behind her, then she made her way through to the corridor that led into Riverton Hospital, locking the final connecting door, deciding there would be no more access to the cybernetics lab until the time came when wounded cyborgs were brought in needing treatment.

Then she went through to the main building and decided to stay around, because she knew how to treat human patients too and pretty soon her skills would be needed because there would be a lot of casualties from the troubles out on the streets of Riverton...

* * *

Far away from the war zone of Riverton, G2 clutched the phone tightly as tears ran from her electronic eyes.

"Where _are_ you?" She asked Gadget.

"I'm at the Police Department. G2, listen –I don't have much time, I have to get out there and do something about this – _but the ACR have Taylor. They took Grace too_ –"

"Oh no, listen, I can come back, I'm a human hybrid I can fight as well as you, maybe better –"

"_No!"_ Gadget said sharply, "Stay with our daughter! She's a baby; she doesn't need both of us..."

He paused, unable to say the words.

G2 spoke for him.

"_She doesn't need both of us getting killed?"_

Gadget's voice softened.

"Well it's not impossible, is it? Just stay where you are. The ACR _won't_ hurt Grace she's human! And she's Alicia's daughter- it's likely they'll pick Alicia up too. Her father was Victor MacKenzie, I don't think they'd harm her they want her on their side!"

G2 blinked away more tears.

"_They've got Taylor?"_

"They've taken over East Riverton. They've got a compound there where they're planning to keep cyborg prisoners. There's a reprocessing plant too. _And_ there's a research center. Taylor managed to get through to me on his wire and he told me..."

Gadget took in a deep breath and tried to hold back his own emotion as his voice choked up.

"He told me they had him in a lab. I _will _get him out, G2! _I'll bring him home, I promise!_"

"_Please stay safe."_ She said tearfully.

"I'll try. I have to go; Penny's trying to get through to me."

Then he cut off the call.

G2 was sitting on a bed in a large hotel room, through the open doors in the connecting room she saw the three remaining children sitting together talking quietly; half of the kids had been picked up by their parents who had got out of Riverton just in time, but the girl and the boy who sat beside Emily still did not know if or when they would be reunited with their families again.

Baby Alice was on the bed fast asleep and she glanced at her sleeping child she thought of Gadget, then she thought of Taylor and she gave another sob.

Evie, who was sitting beside her, took the now silent phone from her hand and put it back on the table next to the bed.

"You have to have faith in _both_ of them." She told her, "Inspector Gadget is the biggest hero in Riverton! He's famous! And Taylor is the bravest guy I've ever met in my whole life! You should have seen him get me and the kids out of there, G2! He was scared but he was so brave."

G2 looked into her eyes as more tears ran down her face and she thought of sweet, not too bright Taylor, the man she had fallen in love with, the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with...

"But he's _not_ like other guys; Taylor is so sweet and kind and gentle. He's _not_ a fighter, Evie! You should see him at home with the kids – Taylor is just like a big kid! He thought it was a big adventure to join law enforcement. He's _not _strong enough to get through this...the ACR have him! _They experiment on cyborgs, they dissect them, they torture and murder them!_"

As she started to cry again, Evie put her arms around her and gave her a hug, trying to find words that would help her to cling to hope even if, in truth, it seemed that hope was slim...

"They'll _both_ come back." She said as G2 sobbed, "Gadget will come back from this and so will Taylor. They'll both be heroes and they'll both make it. You _have_ to believe that."

As she let go of her G2 remembered the kids were in the next room and it would do them no good at all to see her so distressed.

She took in a shaky breath as she wiped her eyes and looked back at Evie.

"I _never _thought it would come to this," She told her, "Not a war... _I can't believe this has happened.._."

* * *

Taylor had not been left alone in the lab for very long.

As he lay there strapped to the table he thought about everyone he loved and wondered if he would ever see them again.

Then Tara came back into the room.

"_Please_ tell me when I can go home!" He said tearfully, "_Please_ let me go! I love my girlfriend. She's got two kids and I love them too, I'm like a Daddy to them! _Please, please let me go home!_"

Tara looked at him and thought about what he had just said.

"If you wanted to go home to your family you _never _should have helped those children get away! _Children of cyborgs!_ You've made it clear that you only care about your own kind."

Taylor looked up at her, wishing she would listen, just look at him and listen and understand - but she was too busy setting up some scanning equipment above the table and then she turned on a monitor and adjusted it.

"I'm _not_ evil!" He said tearfully, "I'm a _nice_ person! I'm a cop and I never _ever_ give anyone a ticket! I'd never even give _you _a ticket! I like everyone; I'm _not_ the way you think I am!"

He gave another sob and spoke again in a quiet, tearful voice.

"_It's not fair! I'm scared...please let me go..."_

As he started to cry softly, Tara looked down at the cyborg who was sobbing on the table and frowned; he was _not_ behaving the way she had been taught to expect cyborgs to behave:

She had been led to believe the cyborg race were highly intelligent, this intelligence boosted further by their artificial modifications. _But this cyborg seemed... so clueless, almost child like in his thought processes?_ That was something she didn't want to think too deeply about, because she had gained the role of lead scientist in her field because of her dedication to the ACR and their message that cyborgs were a threat to humanity. _But there was nothing threatening about this one at all- emotionally and mentally he came across as clueless and his response to being held here was more like that of a child. When he had said it wasn't fair she had thought about the way her seven year old nephew had spoken when he had accidentally broken a window playing with a ball and had the toy taken away..._

She didn't want to let doubts like that creep into her mind because if she started to feel sympathy for this cyborg she knew she would be stepping into very deep waters that could ultimately cost her not only her job but her life too.

"Why did you choose to become a cyborg?" She asked him as she stood next to the table looking down at him.

He blinked and another tear ran down his cheek.

"I was in an explosion. I'd made a decision that if I was ever hurt badly I'd use cybernetics. I _wanted _to be a cyborg."

"Why?" She asked coldly.

Taylor cried some more.

"_I thought it would be cool and exciting! I just wanted to be like Inspector Gadget, he's my friend..."_

She thought about Gadget:

_The ACR were well aware of his design and specifications. It had already been agreed that on his capture he would be brought straight to the lab, they already had his careful study and dissection planned out and it would be quite a task, too..._

"So you wanted to be like Gadget?"

He looked up at her as his tearful eyes grew wider.

"He's a hero! I'm just deputy Taylor Braydon, I'm not a hero...I wanted to be..."

Then he sobbed again.

"_But I don't want to be a hero any more! This is scary! I want to go home..."_

She took in a deep breath, feeling surprised that finding out his intelligence was lower than expected could affect her so deeply.

_But she still had a job to do..._

She took hold of a small hand held device and switched it on as she made a decision; she would at least call him by his name instead of addressing him as _cyborg_, because it might make a slight difference to how he coped with the situation...

_"Taylor."_

As he lay there strapped to the table he looked at her with confusion in his frightened eyes.

"Don't be frightened." She said calmly, "This device in my hand is a weapon designed to cause soft tissue damage to cyborg skin. It has several levels but I'm going to do this quickly and it's just going to cause a few bruises."

He breathed in sharply.

"If you hurt me with that thing, will you let me go afterwards?"

She looked down at the weapon and then back at Taylor.

"I am not certain you're the right candidate for the rest of the weapons testing. I _may_ be able to refer you else where. But I'm _not_ sure at this stage, not until I speak to the Commander."

Her words gave him some hope, enough to stop the flow of his tears.

"Really?" He said, "Can I _really_ go home?"

She fell silent as she adjusted the weapon, knowing he only had two other ways out of here: by agreeing to have his cyborg machinery removed, which would leave him terribly maimed assuming he survived the procedure – or he would go to the reprocessing plant to be taken apart:

_He would not be going home. He would never be leaving this place..._

Tara slowly looked at him.

"_Yes Taylor."_ She said quietly, _"You can go home."_

Then she placed the weapon against his upper chest and hit the trigger.

He tensed as an ache started to spread through his skin, then she moved the weapon down to his ribs and fired again.

This time he felt pain and he gave a sharp cry and gasped for air as the pain hit him hard.

"_No, no...NO!"_ He yelled as she turned up the weapon and hit the trigger a third time, then a fourth and then a final time.

Taylor stopped screaming soon afterwards, he lay there on the table breathing hard as he trembled and tears ran from his eyes. His body was already showing signs of deep, livid bruising appearing in every place she had used the weapon.

She put the gun down and turned off the monitor, then she reached out, hesitating before she ran her hand over his damp hair making a small gesture of comfort.

"It's all done now." She told him, "Good boy, Taylor. You coped well."

Then she turned from the table and walked away, heading for the room beyond the lab, planning to speak to the Commander about her doubts. _As she walked away she felt decidedly uncomfortable about the fact that she had just felt genuine sympathy for the cyborg named Taylor..._

* * *

Gadget had just walked out of the Police Department. He had looked around at the chaos in the streets, seen cops he had known for years getting into patrol cars with weapons at the ready and as he looked around him he wondered how many of those guys would be coming back from this... Then as he headed over to the Gadget Mobile his phone began to ring and he drew it out of the pocket of his trench coat.

On seeing the number come up he felt a deep ache in his heart:

_It was Penny._

After G2 called him he had seen that he had more then twenty missed calls and just as many messages, all from his wife. _But he knew this would be the hardest conversation he would ever have with her, because he had no clue as to whether he would get through this battle and ever go home again..._

He got into the Gadget Mobile and put the top up, shielding the car from the noise outside.

"Hi Penny." He said, trying to be strong about everything.

But Penny was crying and hearing her sob like that broke his heart.

"_I just saw it on the TV! The ACR have got Riverton? Gadget I'm scared for you!"_

His voice trembled as he spoke.

"I'm scared for me too. I think everyone is scared right now. But I've got a job to do, honey. I'm always on duty, you know that."

"I want to be with you, I want to help –"

"You can't." He stated, "Riverton is turning to a war zone. Right now the Chief is just about holding onto the heart of the city. He's arranged for some patrol cars to come out to you, to guard you and Maxie."

"Why?" She wondered, seeing no sense in doing that when the cops were needed to fight the enemy elsewhere.

"Because you're my wife. Because I'm Gadget and the ACR would do _anything_ to capture me - maybe even kidnap you and Maxie. So you're under armed guard and that's the way it is, Penny!"

He heard the hurt in her voice as she spoke again.

"You know I could be with you, I could be helping –"

"You're my _wife_." He reminded her, "That changes everything in a situation like this. Now stay calm, stay with Maxie. You're safe and I'm keeping you that way. _I love you and I'll be home real soon_."

"I love you too." She said tearfully, "And remember I love you. No matter what happens, I love you, Gadget!"

"_I'll remember that forever."_ He said quietly, then he ended the call as a tear ran down his face.

His heart ached for Penny as he wondered if he would ever hold her in his arms again.

But then he thought of Taylor alone and frightened in a lab in East Riverton, he looked around at the panic in the streets and saw flames rising in the distance and heard an exchange of gunfire, then he saw more smoke pouring up into the sky as yet another explosive went off somewhere:

_Quimby was right, this was war..._

Then the large screen in the town square lit up.

People stopped running, turning towards it as they wondered what was happening.

And while fighting still sounded in the distance, the screen came into focus.

Gadget got out of the car and stood beside it, watching as a broadcast began that had drawn the attention of everyone else in the vicinity too:

_"I am Commander Lucien Fairfax."_ Stated the man in the black uniform of the ACR. "I am Commander of the movement dedicated to the preservation and protection of the human race and dedicated to pursuing the extinction of the cyborg race. We are taking control of Riverton. It is the plan of the ACR to ensure that Riverton, once the home of cyborg technology becomes the first place to be cleansed of this menace to society. Please do not think we mean fellow humans any harm."

_He smiled but the coldness in his eyes remained._

"We do not wish harm to _any_ organic human being. We reach out to you with love and peace. In time I am sure this message will become much clearer, once the cyborg threat has been removed. I will now hand the rest of this broadcast over to my colleague and my equal, a man who I am sure you _all_ know well."

Fairfax stepped aside.

As he moved, Gadget caught a glimpse of the background behind him. They were broadcasting outdoors and there was grass all around, just beyond, laying low against the skyline he noticed there was rock_...they were up in the hills? Their command post was in the Riverton Hills?_

Gadget had no more time to think about it.

The man who had stepped in to carry on the broad ast stood in full view, wrapped in a long coat and wearing a hat that hid his features.

_But the arm he raised as he snapped a pincer was unmistakeable..._

Gadget stared at him.

_It couldn't be, he was dead..._

_Yet he was here, he was on the broadcast and standing shoulder to shoulder with the leader of the ACR:_

_It was Claw._

There were gasps of shock from the people who stood watching the giant screen as they also recognised him too.

Then Claw began to speak.

"_People of Riverton,"_ He began, _"This day has been long over due. Inspector Gadget and his kind will fall and then New Riverton shall rise up, a Riverton free of the cyborg menace that threatens the flesh and blood society! When Riverton is taken over and secured, the ACR will hand over the city to myself and my minions! Once Riverton's cyborg population is gone, the rest of the world will be next! I shall be your new ruler! Those who resist will be executed!"_

And Claw laughed deeply, snapping that pincer over and over as the screen grew dark and the broadcast ended.

Claw's appearance had only added to the panic on the streets of Riverton.

But Gadget felt shut off from that by being locked in the Gadget Mobile.

His phone rang again.

"Penny." He said as he answered, "Did you just see that broadcast?"

She sounded frightened.

"It was on every TV channel too!"

Gadget gave a heavy sigh.

"Claw? I thought he was dead. This just got worse; we're not just up against the ACR – we've got _him_ to think about too."

"_Or maybe not."_

Penny's tone had changed a little as she was hit by a sudden thought.

Gadget frowned.

"It _was _Claw! You saw him, I saw him – the whole of Riverton saw him, he _was_ there!"

"But _why _would the ACR join forces with a cyborg? He's got a claw not a hand, he's a _cyborg_ - they want to wipe out his kind! And Victor MacKenzie lured him into a trap and got Alicia to test the separation machine on him years ago! _Why_ would he trust the ACR again?"

Gadget thought about it and wished he had Penny's quick mind that was so gifted at spotting clues...he had often thought about it and felt sure that if he didn't know better, it would almost seem as if _she _was the real detective around here sometimes...

"I don't know why." He admitted, feeling baffled by that question, "Maybe he had materials or access to more man power than they had and they needed him on their side."

"He's a _cyborg_, Gadget! It doesn't make sense! I don't think that was Claw. I think he's dead, I know he's dead because I was there when he fell from the rooftop! I think they're faking it to add fear because when people get scared it's easier to manipulate them. That's what I think_. I don't think that we just saw Claw at all._"

Then Gadget pushed aside all thoughts of Claw as he remembered Taylor was trapped and alone in the ACR's laboratory and he had no clue how much time he had left to get him out of there...

"I have to go." He stated.

"_Be careful."_

"Bye, Penny." He said quietly.

Gadget put down the phone and started up the engine.

The Gadget Mobile was wide awake and as the engine roared to life, the car spoke up urgently:

"Where to, Gadget?"

"I don't care how you do it," He told the car, "But I want you to pull up every map you can find and check every possible route that isn't on fire or blocked. _Analyse the data and find me a way into East Riverton."_

* * *

Tara Crane was in the office next to the lab where Taylor was being held.

She stood at the screen set into the wall and watched as Fairfax came into view.

"Tara!" He said warmly, "How did the testing go?"

"The new stun devices are working effectively." She stated, smiling as she recalled a conversation he had recently shared with her before the invasion, which saw him informing her that he was considering taking their working relationship onto a personal level when the invasion was over...

_But his smile vanished._

"And the shatter bolt gun? The most important weapon, the one my men need to use to control the cyborg population? What is the result, Tara?"

She hesitated, choosing her words carefully.

"Sir there may be a problem with the choice of candidate for the testing. He is _not _of typical cyborg intelligence; his intellect is low and I feel this may cloud the accuracy of the result. _I think we should use an alternative test subject_."

And she looked back at his image, feeling her heart thud in her chest as she hoped her eyes would not betray the fact that she was trying the only way she could think of to spare Taylor a lingering, painful death...

Fairfax just shrugged off her remark.

"His reaction to the use of the weapon won't make a difference. All we need to see is the physical result. I need to know this weapon will work on standard cyborgs and I'll need the autopsy results as soon as the subject dies; I need to see the effect on the infused metal in the bone structure too. I'm estimating the cyborg will take around eight to ten hours to die from the shot but will be incapacitated immediately, as soon as the weapon is discharged. That's all I need to know to be able to turn on the main control and make those weapons live so my men can start using them and rounding up the cyborg population _and_ their children!"

She kept her expression frozen but inwardly she felt noting but shock:

_No one had said anything about using these weapons on children before... _

Tara had never been in a situation like this, she had never been asked to torture and kill another person before and now it was happening it was making her question everything she had been taught to believe when growing up raised by her high ranking ACR officer parents...

Another thought came to her and that one was an even bigger shock:

_A person_. She wasn't sure when she had started to think it, but suddenly she saw Taylor as so much more than a machine...

"It's just that I am keen for this experiment to run smoothly Sir and I'm not sure if –"

"I want you to wait for the bruising to fade from the stun gun test. He's a cyborg so it's only a matter of hours. Then I want you to test the shatter gun and I want a report right after. That will be all, Tara. Get the job done or I'll have you replaced. I _need _those results! I have company right now. _I'm in a meeting with Alicia MacKenzie_."

And as he stepped aside from the screen she caught a glimpse of a woman who sat on a sofa in the corner of the room. Her long dark hair covered her face because her head was bowed but as she caught the look in Lucien's eyes as he noticed her still watching the screen he snapped it off sharply, and now she felt confused:

Alicia MacKenzie? _Lucien had once told her that he had admired the woman when he was younger, that she had been the daughter of Victor MacKenzie, that he had aspired one day to marry her..._

She felt a sharp pain deep inside as she began to question everything she had come to believe as the truth:

_He had said he would replace her?_

_It seemed that he already had in some ways..._

* * *

The pain was still dull and hurting every time Taylor tried to move. He looked down at his bare chest and saw the livid bruising and those bruises had made him cry all over again.

Then Tara came out of the office and walked back over to the table.

As he looked up at her he felt confused because the expression in her eyes had changed.

"What's...what's going on?" He said nervously.

She blinked away tears.

"I think I'm in the wrong job!" She said quietly, "I've just realized I did _not_ sign up for the kind of stuff that's going on around here."

And she reached out and stroked his hair; she kept on stroking it as she spoke to him.

"I tried to get you out of weapons testing. But Fairfax refused to consider that option. He's also told me that if I don't get the job done he will find someone else to do it and I can't stop this from happening. It's a high powered weapon like the bolt gun but it's designed to hit the internal structure of a cyborg and shatter everything. It's not as violent as it sounds, you can barely hear the weapon discharge. But it instantly disables and within eight hours causes death. It's a painful way to die and I _don't_ want this to happen to you, Taylor. _But I can't stop it from happening_."

His eyes filled with tears.

"How long do I have?" He asked in a small, frightened voice.

"Until the bruising fades from the other test. You're a cyborg, you heal fast – so no more than four hours. _I'm sorry_."

He started to sob again, then he realized she was unfastening the straps that held him to the table.

"What are you doing to me?"

"Putting you somewhere more comfortable." She promised him, "Get up, Taylor."

He sat up stiffly, feeling those bruises hurting with every movement as he climbed off the table.

"I don't feel so good." He whispered as the room span and he felt unsteady.

"It's just the effect of the stun gun shots. You'll feel better when you lie down again."

She put her arm around him and helped him over to a doorway beside the office and opened the door and led him inside.

Taylor looked at the small room; there was nothing in here except for a single bed that looked comfortable enough to rest on for a while. There was window in the room too, but the only view he saw from it was a solid brick wall beyond that was covered along the top by razor wire. Just above the razor wire he saw a fading evening sky and he looked back at Tara with a tearful expression as a thought came to him that broke his heart.

"_I'll be dead tomorrow morning."_

Tara avoided his gaze because she had become tearful now and knowing that was hard enough to come to terms with, but it would make everything so much more difficult for Taylor if he saw her cry. _She had never imagined something like this could happen, that she would finally get the job she had aspired to do - and find out it would open her eyes to a truth she had been blinded to for the whole of her life until this day..._

"I'd get you out of here if I could," She told him, "But there _is_ no way out. We are heavily guarded and I do not have permission to leave the premises with prisoners. If I tried to do that we would both be killed."

Finally she looked into his eyes.

"You can rest in here for a while. You need to remove the rest of your clothes because I'm expected to get you ready for the final procedure. Just get undressed and get into bed and rest while you can. I'm supposed to be observing you and I'm trusted to do this alone so I can stay with you."

"Thanks."He said quietly as he turned away and started to remove the last of his clothing, "I knew you wasn't a bad person, you're just trapped here...you didn't get what this was really about, did you?"

"No." She admitted, "I was raised by two parents who were both officers under Victor MacKenzie. I'd never even met a cyborg until I met you."

Tara closed the door and locked it and turned back to Taylor, who had now got into bed.

"I wish I could sleep." He told her, "I want to wakeu p and find out this is a bad dream. I'm _so_ scared..."

Then thoughts crowded his mind again and he gave a sob.

"_I'll never go home again! I'll never see G2 and the kids, I'll never see Gadget or any of my friends! I don't want to die!"_

His voice was tearful and there was a look of panic in his eyes.

Tara sat beside him, glad she had locked the door as she put her arms around him and he sobbed against her shoulder – _if anyone had come in and seen her offering comfort to a cyborg, she would have been locked up over night and in front of the firing squad in the morning..._

"Shh..." She said gently, "Please don't cry, Taylor. I'll try and figure something out, there might be a way out...I don't know. It doesn't seem like there is but if I can help you I will."

He still had fear in his sky blue eyes as he looked back at her.

_"I'm going to die!"_ He exclaimed in panic, _"These are my last hours alive!"_

And as he grabbed hold of her, she made no attempt to push him away, she wanted his closeness and she knew her tears were blurring her vision as he pulled her closer.

"_I just want to..."_ He stopped, not sure how to say it, "You know..._just one more time_...I need to..."

She nodded, understanding that there was no real chance of escape, that he knew he would never see home again, that his last hours would be spent in this room, where he would die after the shot from the test weapon, he would never see anything more than this room and the brick wall beyond and when the sun came up in the morning, he would finally die from the pain caused by the weapon's damage to his internal structure; _there was nothing to lose now..._

She wrapped her arms around him, shedding more tears as she knew for sure that his kiss felt very human and as that kiss deepened he pulled her down onto the bed, nervously grabbing her hand and shoving it under the covers, sliding it down his body.

As she started to caress him he broke off from the kiss and gave a gasp, holding her tighter and breathing hard. He didn't let go as pleasure made his body shake, then his body finally lost all tension and he pulled her closer once more, still holding onto her.

"_I'm so scared."_ He whispered.

"I know." She said quietly as she stroked his hair and held him close, feeling certain of only one thing:

_Soon, the time would come to test the final weapon. _

_And when that time came, she could not prevent the test from going ahead._

_But she knew for certain her world had changed forever now and she would not be the one to pick up that weapon - because there was no way she could end this man's life and live with that on her conscience..._

* * *

Gadget studied the route lit up on the screen as he sat in the car and thought about the only way to get into East Riverton.

"This takes us around the city, it's a long drive."

"It's the best I can do, G Man - unless you want to cut through four road blocks and a major fire!" The Gadget Mobile exclaimed.

Gadget gave a sigh.

"I guess if we have to take the long way around I just have to get on with it, you're right – there's no other way. "

Then he noticed something marked out on the map.

"And coming off the highway and taking the closed road is fine but Gadget Mobile - the road is closed because the road isn't finished! There's a small bridge that was planned and it's not constructed yet and if we don't jump that gap at exactly the right speed we'll go all the way down into Riverton River and that's a _deep_ river!"

"It's the only way, Gadget." The car replied, "This is it – _my _way or...or _NO highway!_"

Gadget looked at the map again:

This was a dangerous route and there was a great possibility the car would wind up at the bottom of the river – but there was no other way into East Riverton, and if they made the jump they could sneak in around the back of the old industrial area, sneaking in seemed like a _much_ better option under the circumstances than walking in through the front and being over powered by the ACR guards...

_"Okay."_ He said, thinking of Penny and Maxie and hoping he would live through this to see them again, "_Taylor needs our help. Let's do this."_

And the engine fired up and Gadget drove away, heading out of town, away from the battle and the noise, starting off on a long journey that would lead him into another battle - to bring down the East Riverton ACR buildings – _and_ to rescue Taylor, if Taylor managed to survive long enough to be rescued...


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"_I'm waiting, Alicia."_

She heard Lucien's voice but sat motionless, looking down at the carpet that covered his private living space here at main command.

Being taken from her apartment had been a shock; it had been even _more_ of a shock to find out this was real and not another nightmare. Knowing it was real made her wish she could go back to the state of half craziness where she had been before, fearing dreams that seemed to cross the boundary and slide into her waking hours...

She had witnessed the filming of the broadcast when Lucien had addressed Riverton and as Claw had come forward and started to speak, she had gone cold, then as she remembered he was her biological father she had felt even colder; she had never known him, only heard of him and as she had been under armed guard at the time, had been in no position to speak to him. He had gone back inside after making his speech and she knew he was here somewhere, in this control center, in one of the many artificially lit windowless rooms that had been scooped out of the mountainside.

_"Alicia?"_

She still looked down at the floor.

He couldn't see her face because her long dark hair had fallen forward and she was thankful that he was unable to see the hatred that burned in her eyes at this moment.

"_I have nothing to say to you."_ She replied quietly.

Lucien relaxed in a comfortable leather chair while she sat there a short distance away on the sofa, refusing to meet his gaze. The tone in her voice had been one of defiance with no shred of fear and that came as something of a surprise.

"Then I'll make this perfectly clear," He told her, "You're in a unique position. You're Victor's daughter. It doesn't matter that you turned in some of his associates when things went wrong a few years back; I can understand that, I can even say a strong sense of self preservation can be an admirable quality."

On hearing those words Alicia's shoulders shook as she laughed quietly.

Then she looked up sharply, her eyes blazing with anger. There was a light bruise on her cheek and a small cut above her eye where she had struggled when being taken from the apartment. Her fight had not lasted long but she was mad as hell at being forced to come here, to be among people who she had long since turned her back on...

"_Is_ it admirable?" She said bitterly, _"I guess to you its fine to have a sense of self preservation- as long as that preservation doesn't go as far as using cybernetics!"_

His eyes grew colder as he looked back at her and recalled the young Alicia MacKenzie he recalled from his teenage years; this woman had changed so much in her attitude he barely recognized her at all...

_"Understand this,"_ He said quietly, "It would be a _very_ big mistake to misjudge me. I'm aware by your records that Claw is your father. I know Victor never wanted anyone to find out. He only continued to raise you out of a sense of his own foolish pride!"

Her eyes grew wider as she stared at him in shock.

Lucien smiled.

"That's right," He told her, "_I know_. I'm aware you have no birthright to a position in this organization. I'm also aware that in the world outside your own people who do not know the truth you are _hated_ because of Victor! So it seems you will soon have nowhere to belong - you _or_ your child. _We have Grace; she's coming to understand that we mean her no harm_. And if our people can't have Alicia back in the fold I'm sure little Grace will be made to feel welcome instead."

Alicia took in a slow breath and dug her fingernails into the sofa, wishing she could rake them down Lucien's face..._Grace was here?_

She thought about it:

_They would not harm Grace, not when these people believed she had Victor's blood. Lucien wasn't about to tell them the truth because he needed unity right now, not anger among the ranks..._

"Grace knows about my past. She knows as much as she needs to understand. She was raised by good people who love her and I don't think any amount of persuasion from you or anyone else here can change that!"

Lucien let that remark slip by; he was sure that in time Grace would get used to her new life, even if her mother turned out not to be around to share in it...

"I'm going to ask you some questions." He stated, "And you will answer me truthfully now in the comfort of this room or you will do it after several hours of interrogation before I put a bullet in your head. The choice is yours."

Shock registered in her eyes.

"You couldn't kill me! I'm Alicia MacKenzie; _everyone_ believes I'm Victor's daughter!"

Lucien gave no reply to her remark.

He looked back at her and thought carefully.

"You'll answer me now, or after interrogation. I think you would prefer to answer _now_. And I don't intend to let your behaviour go unpunished so I strongly suggest you answer my questions."

As she looked into his eyes she knew in an instant that he was telling the truth and that was enough to make her feel afraid.

"What would you want to punish me for? I went to jail for what I did to Claw! _I didn't even know he was my father when Victor told me to put him through the machine!_"

"_That's not what I'm talking about."_

Lucien got up and walked over to her and as he stood there she looked up at him and felt trapped. There was something about him now he was closer; in all the years she had known him in her youth she had always kept a distance and now she was starting to understand why; _the man gave off something so cold she couldn't define it..._

"I want to know why you betrayed your kind and took a cyborg to your bed. I want to know why you would treat your own flesh with such disrespect! You let Gadget use you, run his artificial hands all over your body? _Why?_"

Alicia stood up as her eyes blazed with anger.

"_BECAUSE I LOVED HIM!"_

Lucien's gaze didn't waver as he spoke again.

"Do you still love him?"

A look of defiance was in her eyes as a faint smile played about her lips.

"I'll always love him. But later on after we broke up, I met _another _man, I fell in love with him too. He was dying and he gave parts of his body to cybernetic research so that one day he can come back as a cyborg and guess what_? I loved him too and I still do!_"

She instantly regretted her outburst as Lucien grabbed her by the throat and slammed her up against the wall with a force that jarred her bones.

As she fought for breath he made a fist with his free hand and held it up.

"You'll come to understand in time." He stated, "Look at this."

And he turned his fist around, showing her his ACR tattoo.

"So what?" She said breathlessly as his grip on her throat loosened.

Then he smiled and as he spoke her dream flashed back at her with frightening clarity:

"_Look again."_ He said to her.

As she looked at the inked lines her vision blurred and the pattern seemed to swirl...

Alicia dragged in a frightened breath as she blinked again, too afraid to voice aloud what she was sure she had just witnessed.

"What do you want from me?" She said in a hushed voice as she looked at him with wide, confused eyes and wondered if the pressure on her throat had just caused some kind of hallucination.

"I want your compliance." He told her, "As a MacKenzie – at least in the eyes of the rest of the world – you will make a fitting union with me, as the leader of the ACR."

She shook her head at once.

_"No!"_ She said firmly," No, I'll _never_ let you touch me!"

"That surprises me." He replied, "Considering you let a _cyborg_ take you - and most probably in every orifice, too. I wouldn't _want_ to share your bed, Alicia. You're contaminated as far as I'm concerned. This arrangement would be purely for the good of our people, to show them that Victor's daughter has come back home, where she belongs."

Alicia shook her head again.

"I will never agree to that!"

Lucien stepped back as he let go of her at last.

"_You can go."_ He stated.

He had spoken so calmly after all she had said and as she looked at him she wondered why he was ending this meeting so easily.

"What are you going to do to me?"

He reached out and briefly touched her face, then he ran his fingers down a lock of her long dark hair.

_"Nothing."_ He replied, "You can go back to your room now. Go back to your room and think about those cyborg men you can't forget. I'm obviously wasting my time trying to offer you a better life."

And he turned his back.

Alicia reached for the door handle and turned it, leaving the room at once.

As an armed guard stepped forward, she cast him a wary glance.

"_Did he tell you to shoot me?"_

"No." The guard stated, "He asked me to escort you back to your room."

As they walked down the corridor Alicia glanced nervously behind her but saw no one.

The guard opened the door for her and she went inside, closing it firmly and only then did she let her resolve crumble, as she slid down to the floor and began to cry.

* * *

The sun was sinking lower now, fading out leaving behind an amber glow that seemed to be deepening closer towards a shade of blood as the shadows of dusk dragged closer.

Gadget kept his gaze fixed hard on the open road ahead as the Gadget Mobile sped along leaving the world passing by as a blur as he focussed on the long, straight road - they had passed by the chaos and the rubble and the burning barriers that had dotted the inner city and now they were far from home, heading around to East Riverton, where he could see the rooftops of the formerly abandoned factories and warehouses that had long ago been left to go to ruin when the days of manual industry had been killed off by the birth of smart technology; it seemed robots could do everything these days...

_Including fight crime..._

Gadget pushed away that thought before it turned into anger and self loathing as he thought of all his less than perfect gadgets and weapons system that he feared using because of that dreaded word that had dogged him since his life as a cyborg had first began:

_Glitches..._

He kept a tight grip on the wheel and took in a slow breath, aware that he was breaking out into a sweat through the pores of his very human, yet artificial skin:

_Penny loved that smell._

_If Penny was here now she would be all over him, sweat and oil drove her wild..._

That thought briefly warmed his heart as he thought about his wife.

Then he thought about the distance between them and as the end of the road loomed closer he wondered if this would be the end of everything; perhaps he would go in there and his weapons system would fail. Maybe they would capture him.

_Better him than Taylor._

That thought was firm in his mind as he thought of his close friend:

Taylor was a nice guy, he was'nt exactly smart but he was one of the good guys and he didn't deserve whatever those bastards were planning to do with him.

_He knew he could not stand up to interrogation or torture._

_Taylor would not last long at the hands of the ACR..._

The light was fading fast now as clouds once dotted bright against the sunlight turned a shade of bruises on the darkening skyline.

_The end of the road was getting closer._

Gadget blinked, then his eyes grew wider as he slammed on the brakes.

_"What's going on, Gadget?"_ The car yelled in alarm as the wheels stopped turning, skidding hard against the surface of the road leaving a scorch of burnt rubber as it skidded closer and closer to the edge.

The space where the bridge was yet to be constructed was far wider than Gadget had estimated.

_There was no way they could make that jump..._

The wheels were still locked and the car was hurtling closer to the end of the road that stopped sharply and left a steep drop into deep water that was looking bottomless in the fading light.

"_Go go gadget parachute!" _Gadget yelled, and the parachute shot out from the back of the car, catching the wind and slowing down the speed of the car.

_But the Gadget Mobile was still heading straight off the end of the road._

Gadget could only watch helplessly as the road ahead got smaller and smaller, there was less and less of it now as the speed ate up the distance and suddenly all he could see was the edge, the steep drop, the deep moving water...

Then car came to a halt, the front wheels a fraction from the edge.

Gadget let go of the wheel and leaned back in his seat and breathed a sigh of relief.

_"That was close!"_ He exclaimed.

"_Close?"_ Echoed the car, _"What did you stop me for? We could have made it! You want to see close? Get out and take a look at my wheels - my rubber is skinned alive!"_

Gadget's eyes were fixed on the view of East Riverton across the water.

"I'll need a new set of wheels after this!" The car was complaining.

"Later." Gadget replied, as _go go gadget binoculars_ shot down from his hat and he scanned the view of East Riverton:

_High electrified fences. Armed guards, too – but not many, of course not – most of the troops were out there fighting to take Riverton..._

He zoomed in on a nearby sign and read the lettering, feeling sick to the pit of his stomach:

_The recycling plant. _

But this was no ordinary recycling plant - this would be the place where they planned to take apart captured cyborgs...

A thought hit him that maybe he would be the first to be dismantled if his plan went wrong, but then he pushed those thoughts aside because fear was the last thing he needed to allow to creep into his mind, even if he was already shaking at the thought of capture; he knew he had to go on.

Gadget looked beyond the plant... the research lab was a short distance from the plant but he could not see the layout of the place, not from this side of the river.

The binoculars snapped back out of sight and he got out of the car.

As the parachute started to tangle around him the breeze blowing off the large river only made matters worse and Gadget struggled and struggled as he finally shoved the parachute aside and freed himself from entanglement.

He took a deep breath and leaned against the Gadget Mobile as he thought about his next move.

"_I have to cross that river."_

The car spoke up again.

"Why don't you just use your long go go gadget arms? Or pull out another gadget and –"

"I'm thinking, be _quiet!_" Gadget snapped, "Even _I_ can't reach that far! The distance is too great. If I mess this up I'm caught and it's the end for me _and_ Taylor!"

_He needed an idea. _

_He wished Penny was with him at that moment because she was always full of ideas and right now he had none to go on at all..._

"There _has_ to be a way! I have to get across and avoid being seen. I have to find a safe route into the lab. I can't go in there in weapons mode; as soon as I fire a shot or blow something up that it's it, game over, they'll _know_ they have company!"

"Why don't you use your helicopter hat?" The car suggested.

Gadget scanned the horizon again and then turned back to the car

"_I could always use my helicopter hat... "_

The car gave a sigh.

"I just _said_ that, G Man!"

Then the car thought for a moment and raised a question.

"Why did you need me to cross the bridge anyway? I know I've got speed and a few gadgets of my own but I don't think I'd be much use in a fight!"

Gadget's thoughts were with Taylor now.

"Because I'm not sure Taylor will be in any kind of fit state to just walk out of there." He replied.

"I'll head back to the city and send a message through to the Chief. I'll tell him where you are. Maybe when you find Taylor you can use your radio to call for a chopper to come and get you both."

He was still looking at the buildings in the distance far over the water.

"Good idea." He told the car, guessing that at the very worst he could bear to imagine, Taylor might need his injuries treated at the cybernetics center and flying him there would be the quickest way. He was under no illusions about what to expect when he did find Taylor; _the ACR had him in a lab_. That was enough to know to understand that he would be in a bad way when he found him...

Gadget looked back at the wide, deep river and thought about the distance he needed to cover and the altitude he would have to fly at to get over there and into east Riverton without being seen.

Every nerve in his body seemed to be firing up as he thought about the difficult task ahead of him.

"_Let's get on and do it."_ He said quietly.

* * *

The sun was sinking away now as dusk fell and Riverton was bathed in a dark smoky halo of battle.

But inside the living quarters at main control, there were no windows – at least not in Alicia's room. Lucien's room had a view of the outside world but here she had no view of what was happening outside, and she knew if she asked, no one would tell her any way.

After reaching her room and closing the door and sobbing, Alicia had got up and forced her tears to stop as she had tried to regain her composure, then she had taken off her dress and gone through to the bathroom and stepped under a hot shower, washing away the feel of Lucien's hand about her throat.

She had been wary at first of the thought of bathing in this room, but after recalling what he had said about having no intention of touching her she felt a little a safer to know that he had no plans on forcing himself on her and that, at least was _some_ consolation...

After she had turned off the water and got out of the shower she dried herself quickly and wrapped a towel around her body, taking no chances that someone might walk in because the door only locked on the _outside.._.this was just like being in jail all over again, except that now she had no idea if she would ever get out of this place, and Gadget was _not _around to visit her.

She grabbed a smaller towel and sat down at a mirrored dressing table and dried her long dark hair, thinking of Gadget as she picked up a brush and looked into the mirror, brushing her hair as she recalled all the times he had run his fingers through her hair, while she lay there in his arms...

_She still missed him, in a way she always would._

_But right now she missed him more than ever because she felt sure if one man could get her out of here, it would be Inspector Gadget, the man who had been her lover, the man who was Riverton's finest crime fighter... _

Alicia looked back at her reflection as she carried on brushing her hair and briefly smiled, recalling how she had felt no fear as she had stood up to Lucien and told him the truth:

_She had loved Gadget. _

_She had loved Eddie Lazarus, too – and there was nothing Lucien could ever do to change those facts..._

Then the door opened.

Alicia put the brush down and got up sharply.

Her eyes widened in alarm as Lucien walked into the room followed by two female guards who were both armed.

For a split second she expected one of them to draw a weapon because Lucien had decided to kill her now, after letting her walk away, because the truth of the matter was that Lucien did not allow _anyone_ to walk away, not when he considered they needed punishment...

"I just wanted to have another little talk with you." He said casually, taking the chair from the dresser and sitting down on it, "About your attitude and how I intend to adjust it."

One of the guards had Alicia's hands pinned behind her back and then snapped into cuffs as she pushed her to her knees and pinned her there with a forceful grip on her shoulders.

The other guard stood beside her and drew out something that Alicia first thought was a weapon - but as she caught sight of it properly she took in a frightened breath and as it was switched on and snapped into life she looked back at the man who sat watching this.

"_Please..."_ She said in a frightened voice.

Lucien sat back and relaxed in the chair as the woman used her free hand to grab Alicia's face and tip her head backwards.

"I'm hoping this will remind you how to behave." He told her as he watched the female guard keep a slow and steady hand as she set to work, "It is wrong to have sexual relationships with cyborgs. You have contaminated yourself and it's the ultimate disrespect a human woman can show her own body! And your _child_, Alicia! How could you hand her over to cyborgs?"

Alicia gave a sob as the woman tightened her grip on her face and shifted position, continuing with her task.

Lucien watched as she worked.

"_That's it,"_ He told the guard, _"Take your time. Do it properly."_

Then his gaze lingered on Alicia as he watched with a look of satisfaction in his eyes.

"I _did_ tell you I intended to punish you." He reminded her, "And this is your punishment. I hope it's made everything clearer for you: _what you did was vile._ We do _not _tolerate human-cyborg relationships. If you had stayed away from men like Gadget, this would not have happened to you. I can't really think of any other way to clarify this matter – _don't be a __cyborg's__ whore, Alicia._"

Then the guard snapped the electric razor off and unlocked her cuffs.

Alicia sat down hard on the carpet as the other guard let go of her shoulders.

She blinked back tears as she looked down at her long dark hair on the floor where it had fallen as the razor had shaved it away.

Then Lucien got up and stood over her while he looked down at her:

_Alicia didn't seem so full of her resolve to defy him now as she sat there shaken and tearful as she looked down at her hair on the carpet..._

He grabbed her by her arm and pulled her to her feet and led her over to the dressing table, pushing her down into the seat before the mirror.

"_I doubt if your cyborg men would find you attractive now."_ He remarked, and then he briefly ran his fingertips over her shaved head.

Then he motioned to the guards and they left the room, Lucien followed and closed the door behind him.

As the door closed Alicia's eyes filled with tears as she reached up and touched her head; she was bald except for the trace of a dark shadow that she could barely feel. She felt a mixture of numbness and shock but it was now giving way to anger.

She stood up and her gaze shifted to the hairbrush that was still on the dresser and she picked it up and hurled it at the glass.

As the mirror shattered she gave a sob, sank to the floor and carried on sobbing as she looked down at the locks of dark hair that now lay on the carpet; the hair still seemed wavy and shiny under the harsh artificial light, a light that suddenly made the room seem too painfully bright now.

* * *

_The helicopter hat was working_.

He had got off to an unsteady launch but as Gadget ran and then jumped whilst the blades rotated above him, he caught flight at last.

As he struggled to steer he looked down, saw the steep drop and the moving water, now dark and reflecting the evening sky that was moving towards nightfall and suddenly he was in a dive, he was going down and down faster and faster as the water rushed at him with speed.

"_Pull up!"_ He yelled as he tried to take control of the steering.

As he struggled the sharp dive turned upwards and he found he was speeding up this time, up and up and as he finally got control of the thing it zipped from side to side and Gadget kept his eyes fixed on East Riverton, feeling sure at this great height he was safe from being spotted.

His only problem would be where to land without being seen – and where to land with out having a hard, uncomfortable landing because this gadget was _not _great when it came to landings...

Gadget glanced over his shoulder as he flew on through the night sky; the other side of the river was in the distance now and the Gadget Mobile had turned around and driven off, heading back home to let the Chief know what was going on.

Gadget kept a tight hold as he steered the whirling blades not daring to look down again - _because_ _he was completely alone and it was a steep drop, that river was deep and..._He banished those thoughts before anxiety gave him a serious glitch at the worst possible time.

_Finally the other side of the river was in sight._

He kept altitude as he crossed over, breathing a sigh of relief that the water was behind him now.

Gadget steered higher as he passed an electrified fence; right now he didn't even want to _think_ about hitting that thing and taking a shock that would knock his gadget mode off line...

He passed high over the roof of the reprocessing plant, then steered sharply, taking a left as he spotted armed guards below.

He had no time to count them but by his estimation there seemed to be around ten, maybe more that he had spotted patrolling this part of the complex and if there were as many at the front that would mean a lot of hostile fire coming his way the minute he was spotted...

He wanted to say _Weapons Mode On,_ but he held it back, remembering that was a last resort, that was for when he had to fight for both of them to get the hell out of here because he knew Taylor would be in no shape to pick up a gun, not after ACR scientists had finished with him...

_Taylor was on his mind as he passed over the lab. _

He wondered where he was, he wondered what they were doing to him. Then his heart ached for his friend who had thought it was so exciting to try and be a hero...

He guessed Taylor would be finding out the reality of his ambitions now:

_Being a hero often carried a heavy price..._

Gadget passed the lab and flew on, spotting some trees up ahead that were on the edge of the complex.

"_This is going to be a rough landing!"_ He said aloud as he steadied up and took aim, then steered downwards rapidly.

The blades spun wildly as he went into a far from graceful dive, zipping down and then heading straight for the trees.

As the ground rushed at him Gadget screwed his eyes shut and braced himself for a hard landing.

The blades stopped turning as he hit the ground feet first and rolled against some dense, sharp hedges that grew beside the trees.

The helicopter blades folded away and snapped back inside his hat and Gadget dropped to his hands and knees and crawled through the hedge and into the cover of the darkness where the trees shaded him from view.

He took a moment to get his breath back and then peered up from behind a bush, looking over at the lab:

_There were armed guards at the entrance. He could only see two but he knew many more would come running once the alarm had been raised..._

He had to get over there, get closer and then silence them and figure out a fast way to get into that building without being spotted.

As he looked around he realized the shade of the trees could take him all the way up to the lab if he was careful and stuck to the shadows. It would take time to carefully, slowly make his way towards the entrance but it was the only way he could see to get into this place.

Gadget took in a deep breath as he prepared to make his next move.

"_Weapons Mode on."_ He said in a low voice, and then he began to slowly and carefully move closer the lab, hidden by the shade of the trees and the cover of night.

* * *

Tara had stayed beside Taylor as he rested in bed, he had put his arms around her as she sat beside him and even though he had managed to sleep for a brief time, he had not let go of her.

She had watched him sleeping and as he woke up with a sharp jolt it was a matter of a split second before the look of fear was back in his eyes once more.

He let go of her and sat up, running his fingers through his hair to push it out of his eyes.

_"What time is it?"_ He said anxiously.

"It's not time yet." She told him, desperate to find more words to reassure him:

_She could do nothing to save his life but she knew she could comfort him and if that was all she had within her power, she was determined to use that as best as she could._

Then she heard a buzzer sound and that sound made her heart feel like lead.

"Just stay there." She told him as she got up and unlocked the door.

Taylor's eyes grew wide with fear as two of Tara's lab assistants came in with monitoring equipment and a scanner.

"_No!"_ He said in terror, _"No, please don't kill me!"_

Tara gently took hold of his arms and pushed him back down against the soft pillows.

"They just want to check you over." She told him, knowing she could no more weep in front of Taylor than she could in front of her colleagues; _this was it, the new weapon was on the trolley beneath the scanner, hidden from sight..._

As they set up the equipment Tara gently folded the sheets down to his hips.

Taylor's face was pale and he was shaking as tears filled his eyes.

"Really?" He said in a frightened voice, "You're just checking me over? _Do you promise?_"

Tara glanced at her colleagues who were busy setting up the equipment and gave his hand a brief squeeze.

"This won't take long." She said quietly, "It will soon be over, just lay back and keep still."

As one of her assistants lifted up the weapon she offered it to Tara, who wanted to cry but knew if she did cry, that show of emotion would doubtless cost her everything - including her life...

"The subject is _very _distressed and I have to keep him still or it could damage the accuracy of the results." She said, "I'll keep him still. Let's get this done quickly..."

And as the assistant on the monitor lined it up and turned on the scanner, the other one switched on a small handheld device that had a thin, wide opening and two spiked prongs inside it that glowed as she turned on the weapon.

Taylor looked up at Tara as she sat beside him, placing her hands on his shoulders as she looked into his eyes.

"Are they _really_ checking me over?" He asked again.

"Shh." She replied, "Be still, it's almost over now."

Taylor felt one of the assistants run her hand down his body and then she asked if the position seemed ideal.

"That's perfect." The other one said and she looked at Tara, who couldn't bear to look at the weapon she had now placed directly onto Taylor's body just below his ribcage.

_"Get it over and done with."_ She said quietly.

Taylor wondered what was happening as the woman who held the device pushed a button and there was faint sound, a rapid series of low click_-click-clicking._

Then she checked the screen.

"That's working already." She remarked.

Tara glanced at the screen and caught a brief glimpse of the damage the shockwave had sent though his cyborg body.

"Shall I tell the Commander the experiment was a success?" Said the woman who had fired the weapon.

Tara glared at her.

"_No!"_ She said sharply, then as she saw the look of confusion in her eyes she quickly spoke again:

"I mean, this is _my_ project. I need to study the scan results and observe the test subject before I make a decision. _You can go now_."

They both looked at her.

"Don't you need any help?" The other woman asked.

Tara glared at them both.

"This is _my_ project for our great Commander! _Now get out!_"

As they left the room Tara waited, watching as they left the lab.

"I won't be a minute." She said to Taylor, "Don't move!"

He looked at her with confusion in his eyes.

"Why not? I'm okay, they were only checking me over, you said so..."

"Just lie back and keep still." She said again, hurrying out into the lab and locking the door.

As she went back towards the room where Taylor was resting, she blinked away tears:

_She had seen the damage the weapon had caused him, shattering, irreparable damage that he wouldn't feel the effects of for a few moments..._

As she went back into his room she closed the door and sat on the edge of his bed.

"I'm glad they were only checking me over." He told her, "I was scared, I thought that was it, I thought they were going to _kill_ me."

She looked into his eyes.

He noticed she was on the brink of tears and fear began to kick in.

_"What?"_ He said as a wave of panic came over him again.

"I'm sorry." She said quietly, "But they just tested the weapon on you. The pain won't start right away. I didn't want to lie to you I was just trying to make it easier for you, it was all I could do to help."

Taylor looked at her with terror in his eyes.

"_No..."_ He said tearfully.

Then as a heat began to shudder though his body and with it came pain that made him gasp as his pupils turned to pinpricks, he screamed and doubled up in agony.

Tara gently ran her hand over his hair as she leaned over him.

"I'm sorry, I _couldn't_ stop this!" She said to him, "But I have meds in the lab, I'll try and find you something to keep the pain under control for as long as I can."

And then she left the room.

As the agony washed through him again and he felt as if every component in his cyborg body was broken, Taylor gave a sharp gasp of pain as tears ran down his face.

"_Please..."_ He said desperately as the pain made him dizzy, "_Help me...someone...please, please...MAKE IT STOP!"_


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Lucien Fairfax walked into main control and enquired about the weapons testing, feeling disappointed that as yet Dr Crane had not got back to him with her results.

Then he checked his watch and decided he would most likely have to wait, maybe even long enough for the cyborg to die before he knew for sure the new weapons issued to his men would work. The control to instantly make all the devices live was in the command post high up in the tower above the main control center; it would be simple to turn on a switch and give the power of life or death to every one of his men who were fighting to seize Riverton...

Then he looked over at the figure of Claw, who sat in a corner watching an illuminated map of Riverton on a large screen that indicated every position where ACR troops had taken hold.

"Does it fascinate you?" He asked.

His head slowly turned and his arm raised and the pincer snapped.

"Riverton shall be mine! _R-r-rivvvverr-ton shallll- be mine!_"

Then the pincer fell still.

Lucien gave a sigh.

"Lazarus robot, comply! Run _Program Claw _– run _personality_, disregard _public speech mode_."

And Lazarus turned his head, looking up above the brim of Claw's hat with glowing red electronic eyes.

"Lazarus compiles." He stated.

As he fell silent for a moment and began to access the program, Lucien looked at the creature with disgust:

_Stealing the Lazarus project had been a final resort to instil fear into the people of Riverton and nothing more. As soon as this war was over, this piece of tin was straight to the reprocessing plant where the human remains could be sucked out and disposed of hygienically and the rest of this creature could be taken apart and reused for a much more worth while cause, like scrap metal..._

But all the same, this basic creature could serve another useful purpose right now; a visit from Claw would be the _last_ thing Alicia would be expecting after what had just happened to her...

"Go to the living quarters and visit Alicia MacKenzie." He instructed, "Make her feel welcome into the arms of the ACR once more. And do _not_ let her see your face!"

The robot stood up stiffly and began to walk to the door.

Lucien watched as Lazarus went along the corridor, then took a turn left and vanished from sight.

Then he turned back to the map and continued to observe as his men fought for control of Riverton.

* * *

_Grace was starting to feel resentful. _

After spending several hours trying to get rid of Velma, the woman who followed her and stuck by her like a shadow, she had grown tired of this game.

"Why don't you settle down for the night and got to sleep now?" Velma suggested, "Or at least get ready for bed? I could read you a _nice_ story all about how little children like you live in peace and harmony in world with _no _robots! Would you like that?"

"I want to go for a walk." She said, "I want to see all the floors in this place again!"

And she smiled on seeing the look in Velma's eyes; she had tried to wear the woman out by asking for a tour of the place and it looked like one more trip around the complex might just work... _besides, they had passed something last time around that had given her an idea and she felt just about ready to try it out..._

"If that's what you want to do, I will allow that." Velma replied, "After all, you _are_ Grace MacKenzie, you're a _special _person."

Grace smiled up at her as they walked out of her room and into the long corridor.

"I know I am, believe me." She replied, then she began to walk, heading for the route that would take her to _exactly_ where she wanted to be...

As they walked Grace looked up at her again.

"I love the shiny floor!" She exclaimed, "I want to run around the corner _really _fast!"

And Velma reached for her but Grace stepped back too quickly.

"You can meet me by the elevator." She said sweetly, "We can ride up to the next floor together."

And she smiled.

Velma nodded.

"As you're so happy to look around this place I'll let you do that." She replied, making a note to keep a firm grip on that child once they were in the elevator.

Then Grace ran off.

Grace ran fast, as fast her legs could carry her. She was almost eight years old and she knew a lot of things, including people like the ACR were bad. She knew she had to get away from Velma because she was _very_ bad, she took kids away from their families – _and_ she had shot her Uncle Taylor, too...

Grace turned the corner and looked left and right and saw no one. Then she ran over to the end of the corridor, where there were two elevators. This place was new and only one elevator was working, the other had brightly colored tape stuck over the closed doors warning that it was not in use.

Grace ripped off the tape and stuck it on the working elevator, and then she went back to the other one and hit the button.

The doors slid open and she gave a gasp, seeing a dark dizzy drop that went down three levels.

She hit the other button and the doors closed again.

Then she heard footsteps and turned to see Velma had just come around the corner.

She stood there smiling at her.

"I got here first!" She said playfully.

Velma stood beside her and reached for her hand but Grace stepped back, taking another little step behind her.

"_You_ call the elevator." She said, "And next time, it's _my_ turn!"

_Velma hit the button._

_The doors slid open._

As they opened Grace remembered something and she guessed Velma had been right about one thing...some people really _did_ need a little push...

Velma gave a gasp at she felt two little hands slam into her lower back and then she plunged into darkness.

As her body hit the ground far below with a thump and a cracking of bones, Grace kept well back as she looked at the open doors that yawned dark into the steep drop.

"_You bet I'm special!"_ She said with pride blazing in her eyes, _"My Daddy is Inspector Gadget!"_

Then she hit the other button and the doors slid shut once more.

Grace pulled off the tape and stuck it back on the right elevator, then she thought about her plan:

She had been given a tour of this place. She knew how to get everywhere now, including _out _of here...

She ran back the way she came, planning to go for the stairs that served as a fire exit. She wasn't sure how she would get out once she was outside the complex because there were guards all over the place but she was little and good at hiding...

_Then as she ran she slammed into something solid that knocked her off her feet._

As she tumbled to the floor she wondered if she had hit a wall, then as she scrambled to her feet she saw him standing in front of her and she looked up at him with wide eyes_...this was the man they called Claw?_

"Are you Claw?" She whispered in fright, remembering her Daddy had once called this man his enemy...

But the man who stood before her shook his head.

Then he leaned closer to her and as the light fell on his face Grace saw his features smooth and blank, covered with living metal just like her Daddy had under his cyborg skin... his eyes were two bright red lights and she knew she could trust him.

Grace had never trusted a stranger in her life but she just _knew_, she was sure of it – _this man meant her no harm – he meant nobody any harm..._

"You're a _cyborg!_" She said joyfully, and his mouth shifted into a metallic smile.

He raised a human looking hand and indicated to his throat, where she saw a small key set into a panel.

"You can't talk?"

He reached up and turned the key, tuning out the Claw tones and bringing back his own voice patterns.

And then he smiled again.

"My name's Eddie." He said quietly, "I'm a friend of your Mommy. I'm going to fetch her right now; I'm getting you both out of here..."

Then he glanced up the corridor towards Alicia's room.

"Walk beside me. When I speak to the guard on duty he will assume I'm Claw. He'll go away if I ask him to. Just say nothing, let me do the talking."

And Grace walked beside him as he went up the corridor, towards the room where her mother was being held.

* * *

At the East Riverton lab owned by the ACR, Taylor Braydon was resting a little easer thanks to a strong shot of pain relief that Tara had injected him with; it seemed to kick in fast and ten minutes later he was quiet, still sweating and feeling a vague sensation of pain, and although the pain shot had made him sleepy, he was certainly suffering much less for it.

Tara sat beside him and ran her hand over his damp hair and he dragged open sleepy eyes and tried to focus on her.

"_Oh ...Hi..."_ He murmured, _"I...I still hurt, I think...I think I do..."_

"I gave you something for the pain." She told him.

Then she pushed the sheet down a little and looked at the livid purple mark that was spreading across the center of his body; the soft tissue damage was only a hint of what lie beneath the surface and it broke her heart to think there was nothing else she could do; that weapon's fire power had done precisely the job it had been designed to do; _it had shattered his internal systems, sending thousands of tiny cracks through his cybernetic body, the damage was at the site of the shot and it had radiated outwards, doing a slow equivalent of cutting through him..._

Taylor was pale and his skin shone with sweat as he looked up at her.

_"I can't move my legs."_ He murmured, "_And...I think, I... think I wet myself too...Sorry about your sheets..."_

"That's okay, I'll clean you up." She said quietly, stripping the sheet from the bed and replacing it with another from a storage cupboard, then adding a blanket on top because he had started to shiver.

Taylor closed his eyes for a moment then pain registered on his face.

"_It still hurts!"_ He said tearfully and Tara felt like crying too on hearing that; the pain relief wasn't lasting long at all and she knew he faced the very real possibility of dying in terrible pain because here at the lab she had very few drugs designed to help him -this place wasn't designed for any kind of cure, only to kill...

Suddenly Taylor took in a deep breath as the haze cleared from his mind and he looked tearfully at Tara.

"I'll never see my kids!"

"Your girlfriend's children?" She wondered.

A tear ran from Taylor's eye and trickled down his cheek.

"No." He said tearfully, "_My_ kids...I don't have any kids of my own yet..._now I never will_..."

And as he sobbed she took hold of his hand.

"I won't leave you Taylor." She promised him, "Please don't be scared, you're not alone."

Another wave of pain cut through his body and he cried out as she gripped his hand harder.

"I'm on your side." She told him quietly, "I will _never_ forget you, I will walk away from the ACR and I will spend the rest of my life fighting against people like them! I promise you that; it's all I can do but I mean it..."

Taylor took a deep breath as the pain subsided for a moment.

"_I know you mean that. You're a nice person. You're my friend."_ He murmured as he closed his eyes again, making the most of the brief, wonderful respite from pain that he felt sure would not last long enough.

* * *

Gadget stuck close to the shadows as he inched his way nearer to the lab.

Here two guards stood with weapons in hand as they watched for intruders.

He kept moving slowly, carefully, not wanting to think about _that_ word, that word that could screw up everything - but it was there bright in his mind and it wouldn't go away:

_Glitches..._

As he made his way closer, Gadget checked the message illuminated at the back of his vision: It wasn't green; it didn't say _Gadget Mode On_, now it was blood red and glaringly bright as the digital display read another statement:

_Weapons Mode On..._

He had never felt comfortable to have a built in weapons system. He was even more nervous about it since his upgrade to living metal; it made the weapons system work fast, in sleek, fluid movements that were such a contrast to his still less than perfect gadgets...

It made him feel uneasy as he thought about the task that lie ahead:

He _had_ to incapacitate the enemy.

_But he couldn't take the risk of inflicting mere flesh wounds to stop the ACR._

_He was going in to shoot to kill because there could be no other way._

Gadget didn't want to think about how he would have felt doing this in peacetime because he was not a murderer. He had even felt saddened and had suffered a sense of such injustice when the Riverton Bomber had been unmasked and Quimby had ordered her shot. To Gadget that had not been justice at all, even after all she had done and the lives she had destroyed...

_Gadget believed in being fair and where was the fairness in sneaking into this place and shooting people, maybe even unarmed people, too?_

The answer was there burning as bright in his mind as the display that reminded him that his weapons mode was active:

_This was not peace time._

_This was war._

_He had to shoot to kill or risk capture and his own death too._

_These people were the ACR._

_There could be no other way..._

It was all on his mind like a heavy weight that pressed his thoughts and crushed them painfully into a mass of guilt that felt as if it was moulding right into his heart to stay there and become heavy forever.

_Then he remembered Taylor and his resolve grew stronger._

Gadget stayed close to the shadows, leaning against a shaded tree where the boughs hung low as he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, but taking a moment of composure did little to help because even with his eyes closed he could still see the _Weapons Mode On_ sign burning brightly at the back of his mind:

_He would have to do this._

He would have access explosives and his target would be the reprocessing plant. Two grenades ought to do enough damage and take out a few men and cause a distraction. The two guards at the main entrance to the lab would not be a problem; he would take them out before the explosives went off...

His heart still felt heavy; he would be going in there and shooting anyone in his way, everyone who worked for the ACR because they were all one and the same, they were the enemy and he had to do this, simply because this was war.

_Shooting unarmed people? Some of them might be women, too..._

But they were members of the ACR. Quite simply, as much as he hated the idea of violence, they had to be wiped out because it was a case of kill or be killed.

If he left one survivor in this place, who could they become...the _next_ leader of these bastards? Would it happen a few years down the line when the next war came, when his children had to fight?

_No. It ended right here and now..._

Gadget thought about his own body, designed to fight crime and deigned to go into battle mode too.

_Then he thought of Penny at home with Maxie. _

_Then his thoughts returned to Taylor._

_Yes, this was war – this was war and there was no other way..._

As he struggled with his own conscience he held out his hand, watching it and shaking a little because he knew how fast and fluid this thing worked, faster than he could keep up with... new technology had seen massive advances since he had been the prototype and his upgraded body was something he struggled to learn to use, especially at a time like this...

_"Go go gadget pistol with silencer."_

The weapon slid down into his hand, fitting instantly in is grip.

Gadget shifted position and stayed close to the trees as he prepared to fire.

As he raised the weapon the gun moulded as if it was a part of him and that sensation helped to stop him shaking with nervous unsteadiness as he took aim and fired once, then twice.

Both men fell, one went down from a shot to the head and the other staggered back with a chest wound before slumping against the wall and then sliding down lifeless as blood pumped out of the chest shot as if the bullet had been fired by a marksman.

Gadget lowered the weapon and rotated his wrist, feeling the gun slide back out of sight, back into the hidden arsenal deep inside him that he preferred not to think about – his weapons system, the part of him that right now he knew he couldn't do without - _but he had never felt more sure about the fact that this was the part of his artificial body that he hated the most..._

Then he ran from his hiding place and reached down, grabbing an ID card from the pocket of one of the dead guards. Gadget swiped it against the lock and the doors slid open. Then he checked the coast was clear and shoved the card into the pocket of his trench coat, thinking he might need to use it again.

As Gadget stood at the entrance he looked over the fence just across the barrier and saw the reprocessing plant. _It would be easy to do it from here; he had to be quick even if he hated those things, even if he was freaked out the minute he pulled out the pin..._

He cautiously straightened out his arm and got ready to catch it.

"_Go go gadget grenade."_ He said nervously.

The thing was smacked into his hand like someone had just tossed him a tennis ball, but to Gadget, it may as well have been a hot potato...

He pulled out the pin and his eyes grew wider:

_He had a live explosive in his hands and his hands were shaking, he was nervously passing it from one hand to the other..._

"_Throw it..."_ He said aloud, feeling a wave of panic as he thought about explosions and how much damage they could do, then he gripped it hard and threw it over the wall.

There was a boom and the ground shook and Gadget saw, with great satisfaction, that part of the roof and some of the wall of the reprocessing plant had been brought down.

"_Again!"_ He said quickly, this time catching the falling explosive firmly and quickly ripping out the pin.

He threw it further into the plant this time, hitting somewhere between the entrance and the place where he had spotted the guards posted as he had flown over on the way in. As the explosion went up, he heard cries of the wounded, then confused gunfire, then an alarm sounded.

_"Go go gadget automatic pistol."_ He commanded.

The weapon slid into his hand and then Gadget turned and ran into the building, gripping the gun tightly and following the signs that pointed towards the lab area.

* * *

Tara was over in the office answering a call from the Commander.

As Lucien Fairfax glared at her she stammered her answer.

"Yes Sir, the weapons test worked. I...I haven't finished studying the test subject but –"

_"That's all I needed to know."_ He stated, and the screen went dark.

Tara breathed a sigh of relief to know that Lucien was finally satisfied because that meant she could now spend time trying to help Taylor.

_Not that she was able to do much now..._

She left the office and went back into the small room where the cyborg named Taylor Braydon, the man who had opened her eyes to the truth, lay dying.

The pain relief was helping but it was not enough.

He was still pale and exhausted from the pain and seemed to be growing weaker.

As she sat beside him she took hold of his hand.

"_Taylor."_

He opened his eyes slowly and looked at her.

"I heard bombs falling." He said weakly.

"I think your people are coming to get you out." She replied.

He managed a faint smile.

"Gadget wouldn't leave me here, I _know_ it..."

Then he turned his head as he closed his eyes and breathed out slowly.

"I was dreaming." He murmured, "About _her._ I want to see her again..."

Tara blinked back tears as she ran her hand over his hair, it was soaked with sweat and as she touched him he trembled and tensed sharply as another wave of pain cut through his body.

"She's so pretty. She's not my girlfriend but I want to see her again. We got the kids out... I _told _her I could do it..."

His voice had trailed off to a low whisper.

"_Evie."_ He said weakly, _"Her name is Evie... tell her I was brave...and G2, tell my girlfriend too...but not about Evie...she might get mad if I she knew...that I said that...tell them I was brave, don't let them know I was crying...promise me..."_

"Of course I will." She said quietly, knowing she would never be able to keep that promise:

_If the war was over and the ACR had lost there was no way out for her. Tara had made her choices and changed her mind too late; she had already decided what to do if the time came and the ACR crumbled_...

Then Taylor let go of her hand as his body tensed again and he weakly cried out as he pressed his face into the pillow.

"_Oh no, no...Make it stop...NO!"_

Tara put her hands on his shoulders and gently turned him into his back once more.

"Take some deep breaths, Taylor."

He looked at her with terror in his eyes as he started to cry again.

"_It hurts!"_ He sobbed_, "Please stop it hurting me, please..."_

Tara loaded up a hypodermic needle with a maximum dose ofpain relief and injected it into his arm.

Taylor was still sobbing.

"_Make it STOP!"_

Then he could feel Tara stroking his hair again and suddenly the pain was sliding back to a bearable level.

He breathed easier.

"That's the highest dose I can give you." She told him, "When it wears off there's nothing more I can do, I don't have the means to make the pain go away. You need to be in a proper place of treatment, like the Riverton lab – I can't do any more for you."

As she watched him lay semi conscious as the pain shot kicked in, her eyes filed with tears.

"_I'm sorry."_ She said tearfully, _"I'm sorry for everything, Taylor..."_

* * *

Gadget ran down the corridor, turning back to fire shots at armed guards who were behind him.

One fired back and a bullet skimmed his cheek, slicing through cybernetic skin and exposing the living metal beneath as the wound began to leak blood and oil.

Gadget returned a volley of shots and as the last man fell, he hit the door of the lab with a heavy fist powered up by his cyborg hydraulics and smashed the door wide open.

_"Taylor?"_ He called out.

Tara gave a gasp as she stepped out of the small room at the side of the lab and saw a cyborg standing there; he was in trench coat and a hat and his cheek was cut and his coat was torn and his hand was moulded to a silver gun made of living metal.

Gadget raised the gun, aiming level with her face as his dark blue eyes fixed on her.

_"Where's Taylor Braydon?"_

Tara looked back at him fearfully.

"Don't shoot! I've been trying to help him! I didn't _want_ them to do it!"

"Do what?" Gadget demanded.

"_Test the new shatter gun on him."_

Gadget cautiously lowered the weapon as she stepped aside.

What he saw broke his heart as he looked into the small room; one look at Taylor told him all he needed to know- he was badly hurt, possibly even dying –_ but he wouldn't die here in this ACR lab; he would get him out, he was determined..._

Gadget stepped closer to her, still keeping the weapon at hand.

"What did they do to him?"

Tara thought quickly.

"It's a new weapon issued to the troops. The Commander has the guns hooked up to a program that runs in main control up in the Riverton Hills. It's a shatter gun, it fires a bolt that stretches like a pulse and it shatters internal workings. It's designed for cyborgs but it's instantly lethal when used on humans too. Fairfax has just switched them on, every ACR soldier has one and now they are working, I'm sorry but I couldn't stall him any longer!"

Gadget had taken in all she said but as he glanced at Taylor, he could only think of getting him out right now...

"He's got terrible internal damage." Tara said quietly.

"How can his damage be fixed?"

Her answer made him feel as if the floor had fallen away.

_"It can't be fixed."_ She said tearfully, "He's dying. He's got a few more hours to live – maybe slightly longer if you can get him to the lab. If you can replace the fluids he's losing he will still be losing but you can keep putting it back, it's the only way to buy him more time. He's doing the robotic equivalent of slowly bleeding to death. You can operate to relieve the pressure from the damage, just to take the pressure off his internal structure, it _might_ help the pain - but the sudden drop in pressure could kill him anyway. _I'm sorry I'm so sorry, I wanted to help him._.."

Gadget looked back at her, knowing she worked for the ACR yet seeing so much pain her eyes.

"I'm going to call for a chopper to get him out of here." He told her. "I'll tell the doctor everything you told me."

He reached for his radio and looked back at her, noticing the way she looked at Taylor with such concern in her eyes.

"You can come with me. I think your actions have more than proved you wanted to help him. I'll give you that chance."

Tara shook her head.

_"No."_ She said quietly, _"I was head of research. There's no way out for me."_

And she walked back through the lab and went into the office.

Gadget accessed his go go gadget radio and opened up a channel to Police HQ.

"This is Gadget!" He said loud and clear, "I'm over at East Riverton at the research Lab. I'll meet up outside, next to the lab - I have Taylor with me – he's hurt bad. Send a chopper- and I need cybernetic medics too."

As the reply came back, Gadget breathed a sigh of relief:

"Gadget? Chief Quimby here... We've managed to drive them out of central Riverton. But I'm losing men and they keep coming at us. I've arranged for a chopper, it's on standby. And I'm sending a police helicopter to cover you. They'll be over to get you out in fifteen minutes. Over and out."

As Gadget's radio folded back out of sight, he looked at Taylor, who was unconscious and breathing weakly.

Then he heard movement outside and gripped his gun harder, stepping out of Taylor's room to see if they had company.

_But it was Tara._

She had left the office and closed the door behind her.

She looked at Gadget and looked away as she slowly raised the gun she held in her shaking hand.

"_NO!"_ Gadget yelled, but Tara carried on raising the weapon.

As soon as it touched her temple she squeezed the trigger and blood streaked the wall as she fell hard to the polished floor of the lab.

Gadget stared at her in shock.

"_But I gave you a way out..."_ He said in a hushed voice, watching as blood began to pool beneath her head wound.

Tara's lifeless eyes were still open, staring up at nothing and the gun was still fixed in her hand.

_As he looked at her he felt regret that she had decided to end it this way; even though she had been working for the ACR, she had tried to help Taylor and he had not wanted to see this woman take the option of suicide over capture..._

Gadget turned back to Taylor and then looked at the window.

He guessed if he waited in here he could hold off enemy if any guards came into the lab. And then he could use his cyborg strength to smash out that window and get to the chopper. It would be difficult, he expected to be under fire and he would have to carry Taylor because he was in no shape to walk.

It would be risky, but there was no other way...

Then Taylor slowly opened his eyes.

"_Gadget?" _He said weakly.

Gadget pushed the door closed and locked it, blocking the view of Tara's body on the floor of the lab.

Then he looked back at Taylor, trying to keep his emotions in check as he sat down on the edge of his bed.

"Don't worry Taylor, I'm getting you out of here." He promised him, "There's a helicopter on the way."

Taylor started to cry as he felt a vague stirring of the pain returning, the pain he had so come to fear.

"_Make Lula fix me!"_ He sobbed_,"Please, tell her to fix me..."_

Gadget gently raised his weak body from the pillows and cradled him in his arms.

"Sure." He said, trying to mask his own pain at knowing Taylor was dying," Its okay, Taylor. Lula _will_ fix you, of _course_ she will..."

And as he held onto him Gadget turned to the window, watching the night sky for a sign of the chopper that was now on the way to get them out of this place.

* * *

Penny was at home on the sofa and Maxie was beside her, but her son had fallen asleep several hours ago. She kept her arm around him as she watched the news report:

"_East Riverton is burning."_ Said the female news reporter, as she stood on the edge of chaos that saw flames lighting the night sky as cars jammed the road behind her and people pushed past her in panic, _"The only exit past the east Bridge is now sealed off and police are desperately trying to hold off the advance of ACR troops. I don't know how many people have died today but the battle is still ongoing –"_

Brain was sitting at Penny's feet and his eyes were fixed on the screen as he wondered where Gadget was.

Penny watched as the news report ended and looked out towards the window; from here on the edge of town she could see nothing of the battle for Riverton, but there were squad cars with armed officers outside, here to protect her and Maxie.

Gadget knew she could take care of herself, she had proved that many times before in the days when it had been Claw who had kept this town in a grip of terror.

But everything had changed from the moment Penny had become Gadget's wife:

_She was the wife of Inspector Gadget the cyborg prototype. _

_That meant that any kind of incident involving the ACR would mean she had to be heavily guarded, simply because she was his wife... _

She understood that clearly but all the same her heart ached as she thought of the man she loved, out there in the middle of the battle, with danger all around him.

She couldn't even imagine a time coming, not even for a second, when something would happen, something so bad that it meant she would never see him walk through the door again...

_No. Gadget would make it through this battle._

_He had to make it because she loved him..._

She kept her voice low because her son was sleeping.

"_Please come home to me, Gadget."_ She whispered, knowing at a time like this there was nothing to do but wait and hope and trust and have faith in the one thing that had bound them together by its own unbelievable power:

_They loved each other and if love was enough to keep him safe, he would come back from this..._

Penny fell silent, her thoughts with Gadget as she wished that everything _could _be that simple, that love could _really_ be enough...

* * *

As Alicia's door opened she sat up sharply; she had been crying for a long time after she had put her dress back on and picked up her hair from the floor and then she had sat curled on the sofa in her small room, her hand resting against the side of her head as she thought about what Lucien had done to her.

But as the door opened she jumped up quickly; she was half expecting Lucien to come back again – but instead she stared at Claw, who stood there in the open doorway...and _Grace_ was with him?

"_Mommy!" _Grace exclaimed, then as she hurried over to her she fell silent for a moment, reaching out and touching her shaved head. She saw her cuts and bruises too and her eyes filled with concern.

"What happened to you, Mommy?"

Alicia shook her head.

"Lucien was mean to me. He cut my hair off. But I'm okay, he didn't hurt me."

Then she hugged her daughter, before letting go again and looking warily at the figure who had just waited in the doorway; now he was in the room and had closed the door behind him.

"Claw?" She said suspiciously, wondering why he had decided to pay her a visit...

He walked over to her and sat down on the sofa beside her.

Then Alicia noticed Grace was smiling.

"He's _not_ Claw!" She said excitedly.

Alicia looked at the man who had sat down next to her.

He raised the metal pincer and carefully took it off, revealing a human looking hand hidden beneath it. Then he took off his coat too and as Alicia watched him she felt confused.

"Who _are _you?" She asked him.

The man was a cyborg; his body was human in appearance, she could tell by his hands.

He was dressed in a dark suit with a blue silk tie and as he took off his hat she stared at him: he had very short dark hair, his head was partly covered with cybernetic skin – _everything was there except his human face._ That was just a blank map of living metal that moved to give him some vague ability to make expression. His eyes were two small red lights set into his head and as she looked at him she recalled the android in her dream, the one that had given her the words that had spelled out...

"_Lazarus?"_ She said in a hushed voice.

He reached up to a break in the skin over his voice box and adjusted a small key before folding the skin back.

Then he reached up to his eyes and carefully unplugged the lights, before peeling off the layer of soft metal they were attached to.

He tipped his head forward and blinked several times and then he looked back at Alicia.

"That's right, Alicia." He said in a familiar voice as warmth sparkled in his dark eyes- _they were eyes she would never forget, eyes she would always remember_ - and as he spoke again she started to smile.

"_But you can call me Eddie."_ He added, and Alicia threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

* * *

It was gone midnight and as the time slipped by Gadget felt Taylor's body grow heavy as he held onto him.

"Taylor," He said gently, "Wake up, don't you fall asleep on me!"

Taylor managed to open his eyes and he looked up at Gadget.

"_Is it here yet?"_ He murmured.

Gadget glanced out the window where the night sky made everything seem so dark and vast and deep.

"Soon." He promised him.

Taylor dragged in a breath and then fear flickered in his eyes as he gave a groan, feeling the pain pass through his body again.

_"Lula can fix me..."_ He said breathlessly as the pain made him sweat again, "She...she _can_ make me better, right Gadget?"

Gadget felt like his heart was already broken as he looked at the dying man in his arms.

"Right." He agreed, "She can help you Taylor, she won't let you hurt like this..."

Then he heard the sound of helicopters in the distance; as the sound grew closer Gadget heard guards on the ground open fire and then the police chopper opened fire right back and the volley of shots seemed to echo sharply as no more shots were returned.

Then another volley of shots suddenly rang out and the sound of thundering blades grew closer as the chopper moved into to land beside the lab.

Gadget gently let go of Taylor, leaning him back onto the pillows, then he raised his arm and used all of his cyborg strength to shatter the window.

As the glass flew out Gadget knocked against the remainder of the glass twice more, not caring that he had just cut the cybernetic skin on the back of his hand to shreds as he smashed the window; he was determined to make sure all the glass was gone before he carried him through it.

Then he wrapped the sheet around his damaged body and lifted Taylor from the bed, turning towards their only escape route.

Outside the cops and the ACR guards were still exchanging fire and he knew he had to act fast to make a run for that chopper.

As Gadget waited for the cops to return fire, he looked down at Taylor who was weak in his arms.

"_I wanna go home, Gadget..."_ He said weakly as his eyes closed again.

Gadget stepped closer to the broken window, watching as the cops prepared to return fire on the enemy, giving him the cover he needed to reach the chopper.

"_Don't worry, Taylor."_ He said in low voice, _"I'll get you out of here if it's last thing I ever do. You're going home, Deputy Braydon..."_


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The blades were turning as the chopper set down beside the lab.

Above, the police helicopter let out a volley of shots and Gadget clutched Taylor tightly as he ran, using all of his cyborg strength, hearing the enemy fire, feeling bullets puncture the living metal that lie beneath his skin.

He reached the chopper and the medics took hold of Taylor, moving him rapidly over to a stretcher as Gadget began to climb in.

The shots were still coming as he scrambled to get inside.

Gadget looked to the pilot and yelled over the noise of the chopper's blades:

"_Go! Go up now, don't wait for me!"_

And as Gadget struggled to get into the helicopter, it began to rise.

As it left the ground he rolled inside, sliding the door shut as they gained altitude, turning away from the gun fire and heading back across East Riverton, with the police helicopter following on.

Gadget fell back into a seat and took in a heavy breath.

Then he watched as the medics gave Taylor oxygen and started to set him up on an IV to replace the blood and oil that he so desperately needed.

As one of the medics looked over at him, she noticed the bullet wound in his shoulder and saw the deep cut on his face, the metal exposed beneath it and the wound on the back of his hand.

"Sir?" She said, "You have battle damage. Do you need it attended to?"

Gadget shook his head.

"I took a couple of rounds to my shoulder – its living metal, it'll just-"

"Push the bullet back out and close up, I know." She said over the noise of the helicopter.

Her reply reminded him that these people were cybernetic experts and that made him feel better about leaving Taylor in their hands; after what he had seen him go through because of his injuries he felt like he didn't want to leave his side for a second – _but the command center was in the Riverton Hills and he had to get there and turn that control off before those new weapons enabled the ACR troops take over..._

Then Gadget thought about what Tara had told him about Taylor's injuries.

"They used some kind of shockwave device on him. It's shattered his internal systems. I was told he's bleeding internally and he needs the fluids replaced constantly. And he's got pressure building up, it can be taken out but it's dangerous – does that make sense? I'm not a cybernetic surgeon."

The woman was setting up another IV line for Taylor, who was still unconscious.

"That makes perfect sense, Sir. I'll tell Lula." She promised him, and Gadget breathed a sigh of relief to think the woman knew her well enough call her Lula instead of Dr Smith; it sounded as if he had explained clearly enough too, even though he had no clue as to what they could do to treat Taylor's injuries.

Then Gadget looked around and saw the Riverton Hills looming up in the distance.

"Do you have to fly over the hills?" He said to pilot.

The pilot nodded.

Gadget leaned closer, briefly scanning the view of the tower that was coming up on the right, then he pointed out towards the horizon.

"Go low over the hillside, as low as you can get. _Don't_ stop and land, just get low around those trees, in that clearing over there – as far from the tower as you can go. _That's where I'm getting out..._"

* * *

As Alicia hugged Eddie, she had felt a spark of hope for the first time since this nightmare had started, but as she let go of him she sat there on the sofa with her daughter sitting beside her and realized she had a lot of questions that needed answering.

"How come you pretended to be Claw? Are you working for the ACR?"

Eddie gave her a knowing look.

"Me? Work for them? _No chance!_ They stole me before I was reactivated. They thought I was just a dumb machine; that's what they think about cyborgs – they're either evil, or dumb. _And I'm neither_. So I realized I was in a good position to get on the inside and try and do something to stop this war. And there _is_ something I can do."

Alicia's eyes grew wider.

"_You_ can stop the war? How? I know you're a cyborg now but Eddie, I don't see how a guy who used to be janitor can stop the ACR!"

His metallic face shifted into a smile.

"I have a tuning device built in that I can alter." He told her, "It's built into my cyborg structure. They put it there so that I can regulate my electrical systems because I've got a lot of artificial networks running through my body. If I can get up to the control post at the top of the tower I can turn off the automatic control, then destroy the main command and that will turn the new guns carried by the ACR into time bombs. All I have to do is walk among them and the weapons will discharge against the enemy and they'll be instantly killed."

Alicia stared at him.

"You're sure? How do you know all this?"

He gave her a wink and as he did so his dark eye briefly flickered silver against his metallic eyelid.

"_I'm a little bit more than a janitor."_ He confided.

"What you mean, you know about their weapons system? _How_ could you know all this?"

He looked into her eyes and his hand covered hers.

"Alicia," He said with the deepest patience, "I _will _explain in time. But not right now. We have to wait until just before sunrise to get to that tower. That's the only time it's left unguarded –Lucien will lock it up after he's checked the systems at around five thirty in the morning. Then he will go back to the central command and rest for a couple of hours he won't be looking at how the battles processed until early morning. He has to get some sleep and that's how he works, I know, I've been watching him."

Alicia shook her head.

"But if it's locked –"

And Eddie's eyes sparkled as he reached into his pocket and held up a pass card.

"_I've got his spare key."_

* * *

The helicopter swung low into the Riverton Hills, far from the ACR command post.

As the chopper got lower Gadget pulled open the door and stared down at the steep drop with wide eyes; this _wasn't _such a great idea after all, but he couldn't waste time landing because Taylor needed to get to the Riverton Lab...

He thought about his helicopter hat, but there was no room and no time to get the blades working before he jumped.

Gadget took a deep breath and glanced back at Taylor, who was still unconscious and breathing hard on the oxygen.

"Take care of him." He said to the medics who were at his side, and then he jumped from the helicopter.

"Go go Gadget..._SOMETHING TO LAND ON!_" He yelled as the speed of the fall snatched his words and carried them away.

The ground was rushing at him in the dark, faster and faster and he was sure now this had been a _very_ bad idea – then a huge white balloon shot out from..._where?_ It was just _there,_ getting bigger and bigger as air hissed into it and smothered him.

Gadget hit the ground with a thump, bounced against something soft and lay still for a moment, wondering if he was still in one piece.

Far off he could hear the helicopter high up in the sky, gone into the distance now, heading over the hill down into Riverton, going on towards the rooftop of the lab.

Gadget struggled to sit up and bounced, rolled onto the grass and fought the big soft thing that had cushioned his fall until he managed to find a cord that he ripped from his belt.

As he looked at the thing in the moonlight he realized what it was.

"Go go Gadget giant _airbag?_" He said in surprise, and his gadget mode obliged once more as another inflated, pulling him on top of it with a bounce as he struggled and rolled around, then finally ripped it off his belt for a second time.

He staggered to his feet and stared in surprise at the gadget he had never known about.

"_I have airbags?" _He exclaimed, _"As big as that?"_

Then he turned and looked off into the distance; he could see the tower lit by moonlight and it was a long way off, it would take a while to get there and he knew he had battle damage, which although minor in comparison to Taylor's terrible injuries, would _definitely_ slow him down...

Gadget took in a deep breath and began to walk up the hillside, heading for the cover of the trees, which would keep him hidden as he made the long walk towards the ACR's Central Command post.

* * *

As the night went on, Grace sat there in her mother's room and watched as Eddie talked and her mother listened.

"I am not happy about what has to be done." Eddie told her, "I never wanted to cause any harm, especially not with the technology."

And he looked at Grace for a moment.

_"This technology,"_ He said, indicating to his face of living metal, _"Is to be trusted."_

And he looked back at Alicia once more, "It's the way forward, it's the hope for the whole world – longer lives, no more disease, it's the start of a new age for all of us. But the ACR have to be stopped. It's been the same way throughout history; change always brings conflict before it finds peace and this war is no different – except that if the ACR win, cyborgs will be destroyed and next they will destroy the science and the people who work with it and then we will be back in an age where tyranny wins and mankind are slaves. History _can_ repeat itself, it's happened so many times, all you have to do is read about wars and how they start and you'll see a pattern – _that ends now, it ends today_."

Alicia was looking at him with curiosity.

"_You don't talk like you used to be a janitor."_ She remarked.

He smiled.

"I've been many things, Alicia. And right now I know I'm the man who has to walk among the enemy and bring death with me. I wish there could be another way but there _is_ no alternative – this battle for Riverton will decide the ultimate fate of the entire world and I am determined to do all I can to try and defeat this enemy. We will go up to the tower just before sunrise. All I have to do is disable the automatic control. Then I'll set the timer for self destruct –"

_"What?"_ Alicia exclaimed.

"Self destruct." He repeated, "That way we can knock out the weapons control and send this place sky high at the same time. Then once I'm out there on the streets of Riverton, the pulse from my signal will carry far and wide and every weapon carried by the ACR will discharge, backfiring - they'll die by their own weapons system."

Alicia thought about everything he had just said.

"Grace should stay here, it's safer. We can come back for her after you've rigged up the tower."

"No." Eddie replied," She has to come with us, because if something went wrong we may not be able to get her out in time."

He had made a valid point and Alicia took hold of her daughter's hand as she looked at her.

"This might be scary and dangerous, but you're coming with us, okay?"

Grace looked at her mother and then turned to Eddie and smiled.

"I'm _not_ scared." She said.

Eddie checked the time. Then he put on his Claw disguise, wearing the hat and slipping on the pincer.

"It's almost time to go. We can walk out of here to get to main control- none of the guards will question me looking like this – only the highest raking officers know the truth, everyone else thinks I'm Claw."

And he held up the pass card and smiled.

"This will be easy." He told them, "We'll just walk straight into that place and no one will suspect a thing..."

* * *

As Chief Quimby walked through the corridor of Riverton Hospital that joined on to the cybernetics lab, his heart was heavy.

He had heard that Gadget and Taylor had both been in the chopper and both were wounded – but Gadget had bailed out over the hills and was heading for the ACR command post. He thought about Gadget as he pushed open the door and went through to the cybernetics building.

Quimby's hand was throbbing beneath a surgical dressing thanks to a stray bullet that had sliced the back of it and several stitches later he was ready to go back out there; his men had partly beaten back the invasion and half of Riverton was safe now; but the new ACR weapons now meant that his men couldn't get too close to the enemy, because those new guns were lethal at even a short distance away.

_He had lost a lot of good men._

_And still his men were fighting._

Quimby had made the choice right from the start of this thing _not_ to be as a general, sitting at his desk watching the battle unfold from safety far away from the frontline – his men were out there and he wanted to be along side them, but the wound to his hand had affected his ability to fire a gun and being human without Gadget's living metal in his bones had meant that wound, although not life threatening, had forced him to go to Riverton Hospital to get it fixed up.

Then he had thought about Taylor and now he was on the way to find out how badly hurt the poor guy was.

As he turned the corner and saw the doors to the lab wide open he paused, taking in a sight that came as shock even to a man who had been the Chief of Police for so very long, even though he had seen a lot in his time, _nothing_ could prepare him for the sight of Taylor Braydon lying on the operating table with a sheet down to his waist as he shivered and his pale skin shone with sweat. His body was covered with bruises but the worst of it lie below his ribs where a dark, painful swelling had pulled his skin tight. He was breathing unaided but as his eyes opened and closed again he gave a cry of pain and as he opened his eyes once more and saw the large scanning device above his body, his eyes grew wide with fear.

"_NO!"_ He said in terror, _"No, not again...don't hurt me..."_

Lula leaned over him and stroked his hair.

"Taylor," She said softly, "It's me, it's Lula. You're safe now; you're back in the Riverton lab."

He was still breathless with fear as he looked up at her and started to cry.

"Fix me, Lula..._please_..."

"I'll help you." She promised him, "Its okay, you're safe now."

And then she studied the scan, saw the irreparable damage caused by the weapons test and she quickly moved the scanner away from him once more, taking a deep breath as she tried not to frighten him by breaking down and letting him see how shocked she felt.

"Okay Taylor, I'm going to move you to a private room and get you much more comfortable. The rest of the staff are dealing with casualties form the battle so I have to do this by myself but I can handle it, don't worry... Just try and rest and I won't be a minute."

Taylor nodded and closed his eyes again, giving a sharp whine as pain cut through his body once more.

Then she briefly left him and walked out the door, stepping to one side where Taylor couldn't hear her as she spoke with Chief Quimby.

"How is he?" Quimby asked her.

Lula kept her voice low.

"I've seen it on the scanner, it's just about as bad as it can get. Before Gadget bailed out over the hills he told the medics attending that that Taylor had been hit by some kind of shockwave device- and he said he'd found out the only way to treat it was to replace the fluids he's losing and maybe take some of the pressure of his internal structures. He's right, he's totally right- but that's all I can do for him. _Taylor's dying_."

Quimby took in a sharp breath as those words hit him very hard indeed. He had always complained in the past about Taylor never catching speeders, never doing his job properly – but after the way he had saved those children, Quimby had seen the guy in a whole new light and as he took in the news he fell silent for a moment.

"I'm moving him to a private room," Lula said, "And I'm setting him up with blood and other fluids he needs. When he starts to deteriorate I can make an incision over the site of the damage and try and draw off some of the bleed but the sudden drop in pressure could kill him, it's _very_ dangerous and has to be a last resort. But that's all I can do for him, apart from keeping him as pain free as possible. _He doesn't have long, maybe two, three hours at the most_."

And then she caught her breath and put her hand to her mouth as she tried to pull back from sobbing.

She quickly took a deep breath and composed herself because she knew she had to; she was all Taylor had right now and he couldn't see her fall apart, he was already terrified...

"Does he know?" Quimby asked her.

Lula shook her head.

"He's very frightened and he's in a lot of pain. Telling him will only make him more distressed. He thinks I can fix him. I'm just trying to make him comfortable and keep him alive as long as I possibly can."

Quimby thought some more.

"And there's _nothing_ that can be done? Even with the technology we have here in Riverton?"

She shook her head.

"His internal systems are shattered. He's bleeding and he's losing oil and other essential fluids as fast as we can put them back. His spine is damaged, he's paralysed from the waist down and his thermostat is cracked and leaking into his robotic connections below it."

She blinked away tears as she thought about the injuries she had seen on the scan results.

"_How could they make a weapon that can do something like this to another human being?"_

Quimby had no answer to that question.

"The west side of Riverton is clear now." He said quietly, "I'll call G2 and break the news and have her brought back here by police escort."

Lula nodded.

She turned to go back into the lab but Quimby spoke up again.

"Once you've got him comfortable I'd very much like to see him."

"Of course." She said sadly, and then went back into the lab to get Taylor moved to a room where he could have peace and quiet and she could make him as comfortable as she possibly could; she knew it was all she could do for him but after all he had been through she wanted him to have some kind of peace and comfort in his surroundings, she did _not_ want this man to die on the table in the lab, not after all he had been through at the hands of the ACR...

* * *

_It was close to sunrise_.

As Gadget walked towards the command post he stopped and looked up at the steel tower; the place he needed to get to was right at the top and after the long walk he felt exhausted and ached all over; the bullets in his shoulder were starting to pain him too as they shifted about lodged in the living metal beneath his skin.

He knew his weapons mode was still on and as much as he hated it he knew it had to stay on purely as a precaution – he had no intention of going into a second enemy base with guns blazing; this time his target was the room at the top of the tower and after finding Grace and Alicia he intended to get them out and then...his heart felt heavy as he thought about his task:

If he couldn't track them down, there was no way he would blow that tower or the rest of the complex...he didn't like the idea of destroying it anyway, because there were people inside it...

_No._

He stopped himself right there before he lost his resolve:  
_They were ACR. They had to be stopped and right now, he was the only man for the job..._

Gadget carried on heading towards the tower, hoping there would be some kind of monitoring system up there where he could at least find out where Grace and Alicia were being held. He decided as he walked to get up to the top of the tower and kill the weapons system first; then once it was disabled it would give Quimby's men a fighting chance to reclaim Riverton.

As for the rest nothing was definite, not until he found them and got them out - _before he had to unleash yet more destruction that he so loathed to use, even if he was only using it ultimately in the name of peace..._

* * *

The dawn light was just breaking as G2 picked up the phone.

The children were still sleeping and Evie had also woken on hearing the phone ring and she walked through from the adjoining room and paused, listening as G2 began to speak.

"It's Chief Quimby." He said to her, "Gadget got Taylor out."

G2 gave a sigh of relief.

"They're both safe?"

The Chief paused, hating to break bad news and finding it difficult to do, no matter how many times he had done it in the past when an officer had fallen in the line of duty...

"Gadget bailed out over the Riverton Hills. He's going up to the command post to see if more can be done to stop the enemy. Taylor was airlifted to the cybernetics lab and Lula's getting him stabilized. She's doing all she can."

G2 felt a shiver of alarm run through her body as she heard the serious tone in his voice and took in what he had just said to her.

"Stabilized? He's badly hurt?"

_"I'm sorry."_ Quimby said, _"I'm very sorry, G2. But Taylor is in a very bad way. The ACR used him to test a new weapon and Lula said his injuries can't be repaired. He doesn't have long to live. I'm sending a police escort to bring you back via west Riverton, that area's clear now. You need to be with him as soon as possible."_

G2 gave sob as she clutched the phone.

"_He's dying?"_

"I'm sorry." Quimby said again, "Taylor is a very brave man. He showed immense courage rescuing those children. Be proud of what he did; he's a hero."

As G2 carried on sobbing, Quimby spoke again.

"I'll get that police escort over to you. Be ready to leave."

And as he ended the call, G2 looked tearfully at Evie.

"_Taylor's dying!" _

Evie felt as if her own heart was about to stop in her chest as she thought about that brave man who had helped her save the kids.

"He can't be!"

G2 got up and started grabbing the few belongings she had brought with her.

"Evie, look after the kids. Just because West Riverton is clear through to the city it doesn't mean it's safe enough for the children to go back yet, the fighting's ongoing."

Then she hurried to the door and walked out, heading down to the hotel lobby to wait for her police escort to arrive.

Evie stood alone in the hotel room, watching the sun begin to rise while the children slept in the next room as she thought about the battle so far away, and said a silent prayer for Taylor Braydon, a brave man who she knew for sure she could never forget as long as she lived...

* * *

Leaving the compound was easy with Eddie wearing Claw's hat and pincer.

As the guards stepped aside he walked out of the building, followed by Alicia and Grace.

They went around to the hillside and then turned back, staying close to the rocks that served as some cover as they made their way towards the steel tower.

The gate was locked and Eddie took off the hat and pincer and cast it aside and then took the card from his pocket and swiped it on the electronic scanner that sealed the gate.

The lock slid back and he pushed the gate open.

"So far so good." He remarked, looking up at the tower.

"Which way?" Alicia wondered, seeing spiral stairs that ran up the side of the tower.

"Not _that_ way." He said, "We could be spotted. We'll take the elevator."

Alicia looked over at the elevator that would take them to the top of the tower:

_It closed with a metal grille that slid across it, just like the one she had seen in her nightmare..._

"Stay close to me." She said, taking hold of her daughter's hand.

They got into the elevator and Eddie slid the grille shut, then pressed the button to go up.

The elevator shuddered and began a slow climb.

"_We have to be careful."_ Alicia whispered as being in this elevator reminded her so much of that terrible dream, _"It's Fairfax. He's not just a bad man, he's evil, he's evil all the way through - I know, I've seen it I –"_

"You've been through a lot." Eddie reminded her," Calm down. Your _child_ is listening."

Alicia stared at him.

"I'm only trying to warn you – I saw this in a _nightmare,_ Eddie!"

Then she thought about it some more as she looked at the elevator and thought about how familiar it all seemed.

It was then she realized something else and looked back at him sharply.

"_It's you! These dreams about everything that's happening now – it started the day I met you!"_

Eddie stood there patiently as the elevator climbed upwards, ignoring her remark.

He glanced down at Grace.

"This thing sure is slow!" He remarked, "I guess they made it that way so that if people try and break in it will take them longer to get there. They should have put some music in this thing, don't you think?"

And Grace smiled and nodded.

Alicia saw her daughter smiling.

"It's _not _funny!" She exclaimed, turning back to Eddie.

"How can you be so calm about this? I _know_ Fairfax is evil! _Why_ won't you listen to me?"

Eddie glanced at her as he waited patiently for the elevator to climb to the top.

"I shall walk out first. Stay back in case we have company. _Keep the child in the elevator_."

And Alicia looked down at Grace.

She was past the point of trying to make him listen no matter how worked up she got; it seemed Eddie knew _exactly_ what was about to happen and now they were halfway up the tower she wasn't going to dispute anything he had said...

"Did you hear what Eddie said?" She asked her daughter.

Grace nodded.

"Good." Alicia replied, "Make sure you do that! _Stay in the elevator!_"

* * *

Every muscle and cybernetic joint in Gadget's body ached as he grabbed hold of the rail with his torn hand and began to climb the spiral staircase that ran around the tower. He dragged his body up one step at a time, weighed down by his arm, which he had changed to _Go go gadget machine gun _before he made the climb, after noticing what seemed to be Claw's hat and pincer left by the elevator, which was already missing - which told him to expect company when he reached the top...

_He did not know what it meant to find Claw's pincer._

Maybe the ACR had used him for their purpose – like Penny had said, to instil fear-and then they had killed him.

Or perhaps the man who seemed to be Claw on the broadcast had _not _been Claw...

_All he knew for sure was that he had to reach the top of this tower and disable the weapons system._

As he climbed he stayed low, making sure he could not be seen.

The higher he climbed, the harder he felt his cyborg body working with the effort; he had been through a lot since the battle had started and he was in need of some repair work. He knew these were things that could be fixed and he then he thought of Taylor, who could _not_ be fixed.

Thinking of Taylor gave him the strength to climb onwards.

The weapon weighed heavy as he used his free hand to grip the rail and pull himself up as metal showed through torn flesh and reflected silver in the light of the rising sun.

_He was almost there now._

Gadget kept on climbing, heading for the top.

* * *

Taylor tried to move but found he couldn't– at least, he couldn't move his legs.

The pain was still there inside him but now it felt distant and bearable but he knew he had never felt so tired in the whole of his life. But his bed was comfortable and the covers were soft and warm and the pillows easy to rest on.

As he dragged his eyes open he looked around and saw he was in a private room, much like the one he had been in before when he had been recovering from his cybernetic surgery after the bombing.

He thought about it and he was sure this was the kind of place Lula put patients after they had been fixed, when they were recovering.

He breathed a sigh of relief and turned his head slightly, then he saw the Chief sitting next to his bed and his eyes widened a little.

"Hi Chief." He said weakly as he dragged his words out, "I'm sorry...I know I'm not great at catching speeders...but when I'm back at work...I...I _will_ try harder."

And he waited, expecting the Chief to yell at him about it, but Quimby didn't do that.

Instead he smiled and patted the back of Taylor's hand.

"That's quite all right, Deputy Braydon." He assured him, "I came to see you because you're one of the bravest men in Riverton and I wanted you to know that. The way you rescued those children was truly an act of immense courage. I'm _very_ proud of you."

As Taylor looked back at him in surprise the Chief could see how weak he was at a glance, but even in his weakened state, Taylor's eyes it up and he smiled.

"Really? You think I was brave?"

The Chief nodded, feeling sure if he spent much longer at his bedside he would break down and weep because even though living every day behind a tough exterior had helped him to cope with many difficult situations over the years, Quimby had a heart underneath all that, of course he did. _And right now he felt like he was just about on the brink of shedding tears for Deputy Braydon, who had no idea he was dying._

"Right now Mayor Wilson is over in West Riverton." He told him, "She's right on the edge of town and she's heavily guarded. But when the fighting stops and we win this thing – and we _will _win, Taylor, I'm going to tell her all about how brave you were. I was thinking, there's a new high school being built over in North Riverton – maybe we could name it after you, how does that sound?"

Taylor's eyes lit up again.

"Name it after _me?_ Wow, I'd _love_ that! I could..."

He paused, taking in a sharp breath as a wave of pain seared through his body, but he fought against it and focussed on Quimby.

"I could open the place...I could cut the ribbon."

And Quimby nodded.

"Sure you can, Taylor." He said quietly.

Then Taylor gave a sigh and closed his eyes, briefly sliding into sleep once more as the pain relief took over.

Quimby stood there for a moment as his eyes ached with the tears he was holding back.

Then he reached down and gently ran his hand over Taylor's hair.

"_God bless you, Deputy Braydon."_ He said in low voice, then he turned and walked slowly from the room, knowing this had been the last time he would ever speak to Taylor, because he had such little time left in this world now.

* * *

The elevator came to a halt at the top of the tower.

"Stay here." Eddie said, reminding Grace to stay in a place of safety.

He didn't bother to say it Alicia; she had already grabbed the metal grille and slid it back, dashing out into the control room beyond.

Eddie closed the grille again and smiled at Grace who was shut in the elevator by herself now.

"Jut stay put. And don't be scared."

She looked into his dark eyes, they were eyes that she had so easily come to trust and she smiled and nodded.

Then Eddie turned away and walked into the main control area.

Alicia was looking at the array of buttons and switches.

"I hope you know what you're doing."

Eddie nodded.

"I've had plenty of time to study everything, I know what to do."

And he reached for the control panel.

"_You're too late."_

Alicia caught her breath and turned sharply, seeing Lucien Fairfax standing out on the balcony that overlooked a view of Riverton.

He had a gun in his hand; it was no gun like she had ever seen before...

"This is the newest weapon designed to destroy cyborg life." He stated, "And the system is now live and every single one of my men have one these guns ready to use. The war's almost over. _I'm going to win_."

Eddie stepped outside onto the balcony and looked hard at Lucien.

_"I wouldn't bet on that."_ He said confidently.

And Lucien looked at him again, confusion clouded his eyes as he realized Lazarus no longer had electronic eyes...now he was looking into familiar dark eyes, they were eyes he had not seen for a _very_ long time...

"_You?"_ He said in fury.

Eddie stepped closer as Alicia followed behind him, edging to the side of the balcony, away from the line of fire.

"That's right." Eddie said as he looked at his old enemy, "It _IS_ me. _Long time no see, Lucien._"

Alicia watched in confusion as the conversation began to unfold...they _knew_ each other?

"_What the hell is going on?"_ She murmured as the two men stood there, one armed and one not, as they prepared for a final showdown.

Lucien leaned against the rail as he kept the gun trained on Eddie.

"I didn't think a human mind could survive reactivation into that piece of tin you call a body. No matter, it makes no difference now."

Eddie disregarded the sight of the gun and looked back at his old rival.

"Do you _seriously _think you can win this thing? First Riverton, then the rest of the world? What _are_ your weapons? Hatred, prejudice, intolerance... don't you _ever_ come up with something new?"

Lucien shook his head as he fixed his cold eyes on Eddie.

"_My people are everywhere!"_

Eddie raised an eyebrow at that remark.

"I don't see too many of them! Is that your plan, get the far right fascist anti cyborg people on your side? Is that _all_ you can get? And you think by bullying everyone else they'll come around to your way of thinking? _Why?_ Because you're so mean and tough and you're _Lucifer _Fairfax?"

On hearing those words his eyes blazed.

"Sorry." Eddie said sarcastically, "I meant _Lucien_. You're so insignificant I forgot your name back there for a minute."

Lucien smiled as he primed his weapon and aimed at Eddie.

"You're forgetting I'm the one with the gun."

_And Alicia caught sight of a hand grab the rail on the spiral stairway. It was cut to shreds and metal gleamed beneath it._

_She knew what was coming next_.

Alicia kept her gaze fixed on the top of the stairway as Gadget made it to the top.

Eddie looked at the weapon in Lucien's hand.

"That's not a gun." He told him, looking over his shoulder, "_That's_ _a gun!"_

And as Lucien turned, Alicia saw him standing there:

_Gadget was really smashed up, he had bullet holes ripped into his trench coat and a gash on his cheek showed metallic bone beneath that was leaking blood and oil._

_He looked straight past her and she dived as he swung his arm around, it ended at the elbow where there was now a heavy machine gun weapon instead of a hand. He dragged his arm back in a movement that seemed to take all of his strength and as Alicia slammed herself against the floor, a volley of shots fired overhead._

The gun clattered to the floor as every bullet that punctured Lucien's body made it jerk sharply, as he fell back against the rail Gadget fired another round of shots and the body fell backwards, slipping over the rail, falling down from the tower and hitting the ground far below.

Gadget staggered forward and closed his eyes for a moment as he tried to keep his balance.

_"Weapons mode off!"_ He said breathlessly, and the big gun slid away with a fluid movement, to his great relief his own hand was back now and the tremendous weight of the weapon was now gone.

He was still standing there looking at Eddie.

"Inspector Gadget." He said, "It's a great pleasure to meet you. I'm Eddie; I'm the guy who can stop all this. I need to disable the automatic control for the weapons system. Once I've done that I can set my electrical frequency to send those weapons crazy. They'll turn into bombs and kill every man who carries one."

And he picked up Lucien's gun and threw it off the tower.

"Once I've done that all I have to do is pass through town and every one of these ACR troops are history."

And then he went back into main control and set about reprogramming the weapons control.

"_Gadget."_

He had been standing there on the balcony watching some guy called Eddie who he had never met before in his life talk about saving Riverton from the enemy. He was wondering who the hell he was but then as Alicia called his name he turned and looked at her.

She said his name again and he held his arms out and as she fell into the safety of his embrace he clung to her for a moment, feeling anger at the thought of what these people had done to her.

As she let go of him he reached up and ran his hand gently over her shaved head.

"Fairfax did this to you?"

She nodded.

Gadget felt an ache in his heart as he thought about how much the ACR hated human -cyborg relationships.

_"Because of me?"_

Alicia looked into his eyes.

"But I'm okay. Let's get out of here, I want to get Grace as far away from here as possible."

And she glanced towards the elevator where Grace stood inside watching with wide eyes.

"Stay where you are." Gadget told her.

"I _know,_ Daddy." She replied, feeling like _everyone_ had told her to stay put today...

Lucien tapped in some more commands and watched as the display changed on the control panel, reading: _auto control off._

"That's it." He said, "Now we just need to set the timer to self destruct in...what, twenty minutes? That will give us time to get clear. I know that elevator's slow but we'll easily be out of the way when it goes up..."

Then he stared at the other controls.

"_No, no..."_ He was saying, jabbing at the buttons again.

"What is it?" Gadget asked him.

Eddie looked into his eyes.

"They designed this system in such a way that if the weapons are rendered uncontrollable by the main computer, nothing else goes on auto either. So in other words, if you want to destroy this place, you have to push the button and do a manual explosion - _and_ go up with it!"

Gadget fell silent as he thought about it.

_Then he looked at little Grace, who waited in the elevator. He thought about how this war had to end, he thought about his kids. He thought about Penny and his heart began to break but he knew what he was going to do..._

He looked back at Eddie.

"You need to use your built in frequency to take out the troops. Go now, take the staircase."

And then he fixed his glaze on Alicia.

"_Get in the elevator with Grace."_

She stared at him in horror.

_"No!"_ She exclaimed, _"You'll be killed, don't be crazy, Gadget!"_

But he grabbed her by the arm and exerted bruising pressure as he pushed her into the elevator.

She knew what would come next and now she understood her nightmare..._he was staying here to detonate this thing?_

There was no way he would survive the explosion.

"_Don't do this!"_ She yelled.

Gadget was moving stiffly because of his battle wounds as he slammed the grille shut and as he looked through the bars she saw a look in his eyes that said this was the end.

"_Just go!" _He told her_, "Take Grace and get out of here. When this thing hits the floor run like hell and don't look back!"_

And he turned away.

Tears were streaming down the face of her daughter as she clutched at the sealed door and watched him walk towards a control panel where a timer was counting down to zero, its numbers flickering and freezing as the secondary control above it asked a question –_Manual Detonation : Yes or No?_

Gadget glanced back at the elevator.

_"Get the hell out of here!"_ He said sharply, "As soon as you're on the ground floor and out I'm pushing the button –_just go!_"

And his finger hovered over the button that would blow the complex sky high.

"_DADDY, NO!" _Grace yelled.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

_Grace yelled at her father again._

Alicia smacked the wall beside the control panel and stepped forward and clutched at the closed grille.

"_Gadget!"_ She yelled, _"Get in here, the elevator's not working!"_

He turned from the controls and pulled back the grille and stepped inside.

"It's not working." She said again.

Gadget turned to the buttons on the wall.

Alicia gave him a shove and he stumbled forward, almost hitting the wall.

As he turned around the grille was slammed shut behind him.

Alicia stood looking through the bars, now alone in the control tower.

"_I love you." _She said to her daughter.

Then she looked sharply at Gadget.

"_Both of you!" _She added, smacking her hand against the external controls on the other side of the wall.

The elevator began to slide downwards – much faster than it had climbed and as Gadget looked up he saw one of the cables had been damaged, no doubt by the ricochet of one of the bullets that had flown about earlier...

_The cable was pulling tighter by the minute_.

Then the cable whined as the elevator plunged and Gadget reached for Grace and lifted her into his arms.

"_Make it stop!"_ She squealed.

He held her tightly, looking up at the cable above that was fraying thinner by the second.

"It's okay, Daddy's got you..."

Gadget closed his eyes, wondering if there was a reason to bother praying for the cable to hold- _almost_ _everything else in his life had gone wrong or fallen apart or been shattered so he didn't see why today should be any different..._

Then the elevator came to a jarring halt, the cable holding by a fraction.

Gadget put Grace down and ripped the grille back, then he lifted her into his arms again and began to run.

* * *

Alicia watched from the balcony as Gadget ran across the hillside with Grace in his arms.

She gave a sob and turned back, knowing that button had to be pushed:

_It seemed better this way; her father had started the cyborg hating organization responsible for this and it made sense that she ended it. And she had known for sure as Gadget had walked away determined to sacrifice his life that she would not allow that to happen, not to Gadget..._

Her hand shook as she reached for the button that would blow this place sky high.

Then another hand reached out and closed over hers and drew it away from the button.

She turned to see Eddie Lazarus standing there.

"I thought you left!" She exclaimed, "You shouldn't be here, you have to get out-"

Eddie put his arm around her as he looked into her eyes.

"I was waiting." He told her, "I knew one of you would have to make a sacrifice and I was determined to make sure I could protect the one who detonated the explosives. I have a shield; I can get you out of here and the flames won't touch you."

She stared at him.

"You have a shield? What exactly were your robotics designed for?"

"There's no time to explain that now." He said to her.

_Then he kept his arm around her and pushed the button._

As the boom turned the room into a burning mass of flame that shattered everything all she could see was burning, yet she felt no impact, no heat, not even the sensation of falling.

But they _were_ falling, together, through the flames and the heat and the devastation.

As they fell and flames burned all around them Alicia looked into his eyes.

"How are you doing this?" She asked him, "How can you have this kind of technology inside you?"

And his metallic face shifted into a slight smile.

"How can_ you_ have such difficulty forgiving yourself for past mistakes?" He replied, "Look what you just did – you saved Gadget's life. You were willing to die to make amends for the past. Don't hate yourself any more, Alicia. You want forgiveness? _You have mine and that is all the forgiveness you wll ever need. I just witnessed what you did_."

And suddenly the flames were far in the distance and they were standing on the grassy hillside.

Alicia heard Grace crying and then she suddenly shouted to her.

"_Mommy!"_ She yelled, scrambling up from the ground where Gadget had pulled her down as the tower went up.

As Grace ran to her mother, Gadget got up stiffly from the ground, still hurting all over and feeling like he was definitely in need of some maintenance work.

He stared at Alicia and Eddie, who were unharmed and standing a short distance away from him as the remains of the main control burned in the hillside, sending flames and a plume of black smoke into the sky.

_"How did you..."_

Gadget was still staring as he reached them.

_"How..."_

He looked back at the burning wreckage and then looked sharply at Eddie and Alicia.

"He's got a shield." Alicia said as she hugged Grace.

"_A shield?"_ Gadget exclaimed, "And I'll bet you don't even have to say _go go gadget_ to activate it!"

Eddie smiled.

"No, I don't have to say a word." He replied.

_Then something moved just beyond the trees._

Gadget turned sharply, expecting trouble.

But then he recognised the bright blue paintwork of the vehicle and stuck his fingers in his mouth and gave a whistle.

The Gadget Mobile hurtled around the corner, coming to a halt with a screech.

"G Man!" The car exclaimed, "I thought my wheels were bad, but you look _wrecked!_"

"How did you know I was here?" He asked as he got into the car.

"I kept my channel open and listened to the police radio." The Gadget Mobile said, "And I heard you bailed out over the hills and I came to find you!"

Alicia and Grace got into the back of the car.

Eddie sat in the front beside Gadget.

Now his smile had faded and his eyes had grown dark with thoughts he didn't care to share.

"Take me to the bottom of the Riverton Hills." He said to Gadget, "I'll get out on the edge of town and start walking. It won't take long for my electrical system to screw up their weapons. And that won't be a pretty sight. Take the long way back to central Riverton. I'll see you back at the lab."

Gadget nodded.

He thought about the deaths that would be caused by Eddie's electrical frequency. He knew Eddie was thinking about it too, but it was the only way to end this war.

"I'll call the Chief and tell him what's going to happen. Then I'll leave you at the edge of Riverton and head off to the lab."

Eddie nodded and remained silent as they headed off down the hillside, towards the moment when Eddie Lazarus would change the fate of Riverton.

* * *

G2 was waiting outside the door to Taylor's room. She had sat beside him for the last hour but now he was sleeping again because his pain relief had just been increased and that was the time she had chosen to step outside and call Penny.

Then she had waited and as she looked up the corridor she saw her at last, hurrying along holding the hand of her son Maxie, who dashed along beside his mother with a bewildered look on his face.

As Penny reached her she hugged G2.

"I'm _so _sorry!" She said tearfully, "Taylor's dying? He can't be..."

G2 walked on a little further to a seating area and sat down and Penny sat beside her while Maxie sat down too- and the little boy stayed silent as he wondered why so many bad things were happening; _first there was war going on and now Grace's Uncle Taylor was dying?_

"I came as fast as I could." Penny added, "The Chief just called me, he said they're going to use some kind of weapon on the enemy. Then he said there was a clear route into central Riverton and he told me Gadget was on his way to the lab. I had cops outside the house, they escorted me and Maxie."

And Penny felt guilty as tears of pure relief stung her eyes.

"_I'm so glad he's coming home! He gets to come home and so many people won't be coming home again, but I get him back, G2! Gadget's got through this!"_

And then she took in a sharp breath and pulled back on her own emotions:

_Taylor was dying; he would not be getting through this..._

"I'm sorry!" Penny said quickly, "I know I shouldn't be saying that right now –"

"No." G2 stated, as her own electric blue android eyes reflected grief, "Gadget's coming home. He made it. I'm glad too."

Then she got up from her seat.

"I'm going to sit with Taylor. He's going to be waking up soon, they can't keep the pain under control for long. He's going to need me."

And G2 turned and walked back towards Taylor's room.

* * *

_Far away, in the east of Riverton, fires burned, taking down the ACR compound and everything built within it. _

_Up in the hills the morning sky was scorched black from the smoke that poured from the command center._

_And as a faceless cyborg walked through the streets of Riverton, the signal spread far and wide and on that morning as the enemy fell screaming and choking on blood it was a day that history would remember._

_After the screams of the dying fell silent, the smoke from the fires poured up into the skies and the rain began to fall as if the heavens were lending their own assistance to kill the flames._

_When the last of the men who wore the uniform of the ACR dropped dead, Eddie Lazarus turned off his signal and then he walked on in the rain, looking like no more than just another cyborg, a faceless one who onlookers would have assumed had been damaged in battle, he walked on and headed into central Riverton, towards the direction of the lab, where he blended in with the crowds of people who filled the streets and became anonymous once more._

_The war was over and peace was restored._

_But Riverton would never be the same again; today was the dawn of a new era but the task was not completed yet; there was still work to be done and that work was about to be carried out..._

* * *

Penny had sat alone in the corridor lost in her thoughts for quite a while.

Even though her son was beside her she felt alone, her heart ached and her arms ached and neither pain would go away until Gadget was in her embrace.

As she waited in the corridor she recalled the first time she had ever been to this place, so long ago when she had been a teenager and Gadget had been her guardian, back in the days when she called him Uncle...

_She hadn't known then, of course not._

_She hadn't known they were not related._

_She had loved him as her protector, her Uncle John, the man who cared for her._

_And when she had seen him for the first time, recovering from the surgery that had turned him into Gadget, she had known in a heart beat that he was still her Uncle. _

_He was still John, her protector. _

_Back then he had been bewildered by his Gadgets but she had embraced him and listened to the mechanical sounds that worked in unison with the beating of his heart and as she had pressed her head against his chest she had told him, he was still her Uncle and she loved him, she was glad he was still alive.._

_Her Uncle Gadget._

_The man who had saved her from Claw._

_The man who she had searched for in every other man she met when she got older._

_But there was only one love for her, and when she found out Gadget was not her Uncle..._

_It all made sense now, set in her heart as if it might as well have been written in stone a long time ago:_

_They had always been meant to be._

_It had taken years to happen but what they shared now was so precious, it was the kind of love that defined life and all the reasons to carry on living._

_They had been through so much together – she could still remember her heart aching as he lay fighting for his life after the Riverton Bomber had struck._

_And then later, after he found her letter that spelled out the truth, Gadget whispering to her that life did not have to be unfair._

_She could still feel the way he took hold of her hand as he nervously said he was going to bed and he wanted her to come with him._

_Back then he had been damaged by the bombing, he still carried that damage to this day but it didn't matter when he was warm in her arms and trembling as she caressed him with love and patience and every one of those moments were alive in her mind as she sat alone and waited for him._

_She went back to that moment so long ago; her head on his chest listening to the sounds of machinery working with his heartbeat:_

_She still did that to this day, but now as they lay together and every mechanical sound that worked with his human heart, although sounding the same, meant something so much deeper..._

"Penny!"

She stood up and turned around, tears filling her eyes as Gadget rushed towards her.

_His trench coat was torn and there were bullet holes in his shoulder._

_His face was cut and living metal showed beneath as blood and oil leaked out._

_But he was alive._

_He was home; he had come back from this war._

Penny's eyes filled with tears as she hurried to him, needing nothing but to be in his arms.

Everything played out in her head again in the split second they collided in a tight embrace:

_He was back, that man she had once called Uncle Gadget, that man who had come to mean so much more as the years had passed by – her best friend, husband, lover – he was back now._

_He was back and that was all that mattered._

He held her tightly, wrapping strong cyborg arms around her as he kissed her deeply and Penny was lost in the smell of oil and sweat and blood and smoke from the battle.

She clung to him as they embraced and as the kiss ended Gadget held onto her, feeling sure he knew he was truly home and it was truly over now because he was back in Penny's arms.

Then Maxie came forward and hugged him too.

Gadget looked down at Penny's son and smiled.

"I'm back now. The fighting's over. It's all okay, Maxie."

And as the little boy smiled up at him, Gadget wished he would call him Dad.

But instead he just smiled, feeling relieved he was back home once more.

"I'm glad you're safe, Uncle Gadget." He told him.

Penny reached up and touched his face.

"You're hurt, Gadget."

"I messed my hand up too." He said, "And I took a couple of bullets but they went straight into my metal, I'm fine! This is minor damage."

Then he let go of her as his thoughts shifted to his close friend and colleague.

"How's Taylor?"

Penny's eyes clouded with sorrow.

"Not good. G2's with him right now."

"_I want to see my Uncle Taylor."_

Penny turned to see Grace standing beside her. Alicia was with her and Alicia looked as if she had been through hell; she had cuts and bruises and her long hair had been shaved off.

"Don't ask." She said as she saw the way Penny stared at her, "The ACR did it. "

Then she sat down and gave a weary sigh.

"I want to see Uncle Taylor!" Grace said again.

Gadget took hold of his daughter's hand.

"We'll go and see him together." He said, and led her up the corridor.

* * *

As they walked together Gadget forgot how much he ached from the damage he had suffered; right now his thoughts were with his close friend.

"Grace," He said as they reached Taylor's door, "Your Uncle Taylor is very badly hurt. He might not get better, but _don't_ tell him that because he's hurting a lot and we want to make him feel better, don't we?"

Grace nodded as sorrow filled her eyes.

Then Gadget opened the door and they went inside together.

G2 was sitting next to Taylor's bed.

She turned and stared at Gadget, taking in the sight of his injuries.

"You have battle damage!" She exclaimed, and Gadget managed a smile on hearing that remark.

"So I've been told." He replied, then his smile faded as he looked at Taylor, pale and sweating and hooked up IV lines as a monitor tracked his heart rate and electrical pulses. Gadget knew from the times he had been a patient in this place that those signals the monitors were tracking were becoming weak; Taylor's body was starting to fail him, the cyborg and the human side, too...

"How is he?" He said quietly.

G2 was giving Grace a hug.

She carried on hugging the little girl as she looked up at Gadget and shook her head.

A tear ran down her face and she quickly wiped it away as Grace let go of her.

"Lula said he doesn't have long at all." She said quietly, "She said she can try and ease the pressure for him but she can't do it until he gets worse because it's a last resort and..."

She stopped, taking in a deep breath as she tried to stay strong for Taylor.

Grace shifted closer to the bed and took hold of her Uncle Taylor's hand and as she did it she wondered why he felt so cold.

As she held on to his hand, he slowly opened his eyes.

Seeing Grace made him smile.

"Grace!" He said weakly, "I'm so glad you're okay! I'm sorry I couldn't get you out...I tried but –"

"That's okay." Grace told him, "Daddy got me out."

And then she smiled and her eyes shone with love.

_"And my Mommy too. Mommy helped. I never knew she could be so brave."_

And G2 glanced at Gadget, who looked back at her but said nothing; after all Grace had been through with Alicia, their bond had strengthened, it had strengthened so much that it was becoming clear life would never be the same again...

* * *

Penny was still out in the corridor sitting beside Alicia.

"I'm sorry you went through so much." She said quietly.

Alicia turned her head and looked at her and Penny saw such fear in her eyes.

"I can't begin to explain what I saw in his eyes." She said quietly, _"Lucien Fairfax...and there was something else- something..."_

She looked down at the back of her own hand, marked by a fading scar where she had long ago burned off her tattoo.

"His tattoo...it wasn't like a regular ACR marking. It was different, _he_ was different."

And then she breathed in and out slowly, trying to calm her thoughts.

"You won't get what I mean...no, I won't talk about this stuff..."

As Penny looked back at her and recalled the days when she and Alicia had hated each other, none of that seemed to matter any more, it was too long gone and all she wanted to do now was try and help her.

"You've been through a lot, I can see that. Just try and remember it's over now."

Alicia gave a sigh and shook her head.

"That's what I keep hearing – _you've been through a lot, shut up, Alicia_...it doesn't matter, I can't really explain it..."

Then she looked down the corridor.

"I miss Eddie."

"Eddie?" Penny wondered.

"He saved my life." Alicia told her, "When we blew up the command post. He's got some kind of smart technology inside him. He used a shield... got me out of there. I want to see him..."

And then she fell silent again, lost in her own confused thoughts.

* * *

Taylor looked up at Gadget.

"_Thanks for getting me out of there."_ He whispered, "_Its okay now, Lula going to fix me..."_

Then pain cut through his body and he trembled and cried out, grabbing at the sheets as of he needed something to hold onto, some way to try and escape the pain.

"Uncle Taylor?" Grace said in alarm.

Taylor was still in pain and the pain was getting worse by the second.

"_Help me!"_ He said as tears formed in his eyes again_, "Make it stop, make it STOP!"_

The monitors around his bed were giving off uneven signals, rising and falling and as Lula hurried into the room she took one look at Taylor and knew he had just become critical.

"Could you take Grace outside?" She said quickly.

G2 grabbed Grace's hand and led her from the room. As she looked back she wished she had said something or kissed him or held his hand a few moments longer -but he was in too much pain now and Lula was right; Grace should _not_ be seeing this...

Gadget made a move to leave too.

"_No!"_ Lula said sharply, closing the door again, "I need you to stay. There's no one else, everyone is busy treating casualties form the battle."

Taylor was gasping for breath and breaking out in a sweat as he gave another cry of pain.

"I'm not a medic!" Gadget said in alarm.

"Just hold him, keep him calm. I have to try and take the pressure off this bleed, there's no other way now."

As Gadget sat on the edge of the bed he saw Lula grab a towel and placed it by Taylor's side. The swelling beneath his ribs had grown even darker and as she reached for a scalpel he turned away, putting his hands on Taylor's shoulders as he looked into his eyes.

"Its okay, Lula's helping you...don't cry, its okay..."

Taylor gasped for air as he sobbed and the pain grew worse.

_"Lula...fix me!"_ He said tearfully.

"I'm going to try, Taylor." She promised him, "Just talk to Gadget, this wont take long. I'm going to make a little cut and it's below your cybernetic connections so it will hurt for a minute but then it will feel better, okay?"

"Okay..." He said, sounding as frightened as he felt.

He kept his gaze fixed on Gadget.

"Lula..._can_ fix me..." He said breathlessly.

Gadget looked down at him and wished he could promise him that was true, but he knew he couldn't do that so he said nothing, feeling helpless to change anything.

_"Fix me, Lula..."_ Taylor said again.

Then as the scalpel went in he gave a sharp gasp, feeling heat and pain as the knife cut into his flesh.

He gasped for breath again and Gadget leaned closer to him, pressing his face into Taylor's hair.

"It'll be okay, it's okay." He whispered to him, knowing there was nothing else he could do to help.

"_Fix me..."_ Taylor said tearfully _"Please, Lula..."_

"It's okay." Gadget said again, staying close to him.

Taylor breathed hard, then he gave a sigh as the monitors began to slow.

Gadget didn't move, he just stayed there with his hands on his shoulders as Taylor took in more slow breaths.

The signals from the monitors were falling.

Taylor's body relaxed as he breathed out slowly and Gadget desperately hoped it meant the procedure had been a success.

But then as he realized Taylor had stopped breathing and all he could hear was the drone of the monitor flat lining, he kept hold of him and pressed his face harder against his hair and sobbed quietly.

"Gadget." Lula said in a hushed voice, "Gadget, he's –"

"_I know."_

Gadget was still holding him.

"I need to tell G2."

Gadget slowly let go of Taylor's body. A tear was still running down his face and Gadget wiped it away.

Lula put her hand on his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry. I did everything I could for him but he was too badly hurt, I couldn't save him."

Gadget nodded.

Then he took one last look at Taylor as the only comforting thought that came to mind was knowing at least he wasn't in pain any more- now everyone who knew and loved him would have that pain instead as they came to terms with his loss...

Lula began to clear away the blood and oil and then she replaced the covers, before disconnecting the monitors and the IVs.

Gadget was still standing there looking at Taylor's body.

As he looked at his dead friend he thought about how life had always been so unfair:

_He had found that out for himself when his own body had been replaced by machinery, something he had been given no choice about. He had been through pain and suffering and to an extent he guessed he always would every time he thought about the human body he had lost. But seeing Taylor lying there dead, no – this man did not deserve this, not Taylor... it just reminded him how much injustice there was in this sorry world..._

Gadget took in a shaky breath.

"_I'll tell G2."_ He said quietly, and then he left the room.

* * *

Gadget walked slowly up the corridor to the seating area where G2 was waiting with Penny and Alicia and the kids.

As he got closer Penny looked at him and she knew at once, he could tell by the way she stared back at him in shock.

"Is he okay?"G2 said, searching Gadget's face for any indication that he was still alive, that he had made it.

Gadget looked into her eyes.

"_I'm sorry."_ He said.

And G2 gave a sob and he caught hold of her, keeping a tight hold on her as she sobbed onto the shoulder of his trench coat, not caring that it was shot through with bullet holes and stained with blood and oil.

Then as she grew unsteady he helped her to sit back down, and he tried to offer her the only words of comfort he could think of:

"He's not in pain any more. He couldn't have held on any longer, G2. But he's not in pain now. That pain can never hurt him again."

Grace was crying too and Alicia put her arm around her.

Lula walked up to the seating area and l spoke quietly to G2.

"I'm so very sorry." She told her, "I did everything I could but it wasn't enough"

G2 nodded as she looked at her with tears in her eyes.

Then as Lula turned away, Alicia jumped up from her seat.

"The ACR stole Eddie Lazarus. They reactivated him."

_And while she was talking, Grace got up and wandered off in the direction of her Uncle Taylor's room._

She didn't want to believe he was dead but she knew it was true and she just wanted to see him one last time, because she felt so sad that he was gone.

As Gadget and Penny comforted G2, no one noticed Grace had slipped away by herself.

Lula stared at Alicia, taking in her cuts and bruises and the fact that her head had been shaved.

"What happened to Eddie?" She wondered.

"He's fine. He said he's meeting me here at the lab. I think he wants you to put his face on for him – that's the only part he's missing."

Lula's jaw dropped on hearing that statement.

"How did he survive reactivation? That wasn't something we were confident to try for a _very_ long time, how could he have survived that?"

Alicia shrugged.

"I don't know. But he helped us win the war. And he saved my life too, when the command post blew up. _He_ _used his shield to protect me from the explosion_."

Lula was still staring at her as she thought about what she had just said.

"_His what?"_

"His shield."

Lula shook her head, feeling completely confused by Alicia's statement.

"He's a standard cyborg." She told her, "He doesn't _have_ a shield..."

* * *

Grace was heading towards Taylor's room when she saw someone cross the corridor.

Her pace slowed as she wondered why Eddie was going into Taylor's room.

After he walked inside the door swung back and she caught it, peering through the gap...

Eddie Lazarus was _not _looking towards the door where she stood watching:

He was standing by Taylor's bed and looking down at him lying there, cold and lifeless after losing the fight to survive.

_Taylor had fought hard, with as much courage as he had showed when he had saved the lives of those children..._

Then as Eddie carried on looking at him, he thought about the battle:

_He was thinking about the lives that had been lost._

_If there had been any other way he would have taken it._

_But this was the start of a new age, the beginning of the evolution of flesh and steel that would take the world to a whole new level, one of peace and enlightenment and he knew there could have been no other way but to choose this life and this path to ensure this new stage of evolution would turn out well._

_It was something he had to witness for himself; because he could not have sat back and watched as the world was torn apart, not when he knew he could do something about it._

_And that was why Eddie Lazarus, a former janitor who had been caught in a nuclear accident and then undergone such a drastic cyborg transformation, had to be here..._

_The battle for Riverton would go down in history._

_Because of the battle the whole world would know all about Riverton and soon it would become the center of cybernetic advancement, the biggest and greatest in the world._

_But a lot lives had been lost._

_If he could have changed this, he knew he would have made everything turn differently – let everybody live..._

_But history that changed the world was never built on happy endings; changes always came about by tragedy and loss of life and then lessons were learned and life moved on, only then could it move on to the next stage of awareness..._

He was still looking at Taylor, who was lying in that bed looking so peaceful now the pain was over. He looked as if he was sleeping, but this was the sleep that lasted forever...

He leaned closer to Taylor's body, thinking about the man who had wanted to be a hero without understanding what it could mean, this man who thought in such a simple, almost childlike way who had suffered so greatly because of his unselfish act of courage.

Taylor was not the only man who had lost his life.

A lot of good men had died in this war.

A lot of good men were gone forever.

_But not this man..._

Eddie Lazarus swept his hand over Taylor's hair, then he gently rested his hand on his cold cheek as he spoke to him.

He spoke softly, whispering kindly and softly as a father would speak to his son.

And as Grace watched through the gap in the door her eyes grew wider.

Taylor's skin turned a living shade and he took in a sharp breath. Then he turned his head and started to move as if waking from a deep sleep.

Grace gave a gasp.

"_Uncle Taylor!"_ She whispered in amazement.

Then Eddie turned and walked out of the room, pausing to reach down and put his hand on Grace's shoulder.

"Your Uncle Taylor will be just fine. He just needs to rest for a little while and then you can take him home."

Then Eddie smiled.

"It won't be long before he's back to playing water fights in the garden again. You _might_ want to get him his own water pistol too, he'd really like that."

And as she stared at him in astonishment, Eddie walked away, turning the corner and disappearing from sight.

* * *

Grace ran into Taylor's room.

He sat up and moved about stiffly and then looked at Grace and his eyes lit up as he gave her a big smile.

"Hi Grace!" He said brightly, "I guess Lula must have fixed me! I feel like I've been hit by a truck... did she give me a lot of medication or something?"

And as he lay back against the pillows again he felt something damp and looked down and saw the sheets were partly stained with blood.

"I need a shower!" He said, "And this bed is filthy... wait till I see Lula! How could she give me dirty sheets like this?"

Then Taylor reached down just below his ribs where he was sure Lula had opened him up...then he guessed it must have been a dream, because he felt fine now and he had no injuries at all...

Then he heard voices coming up the corridor:

"_I didn't know she'd run off!"_ Alicia said sharply, _"I don't believe this, five minutes with my back turned and suddenly I'm a bad mother?"_

"I didn't say that!" Gadget replied, "I just said you should have been watching her."

"No but you implied it. I didn't know she'd walked off, I was talking to Lula!" Alicia insisted.

Then the voices fell silent.

Grace smiled as she saw her family standing in the doorway.

"_Uncle Taylor's okay."_ She said as joy shone from her eyes.

G2 and Gadget were staring at Taylor.

Then G2 dashed into the room and hugged him tightly, kissing him and hugging him again.

Gadget was still staring at Taylor as he blinked away tears.

"I thought you were..."

"Lula must have fixed me." Taylor said.

Gadget tried to hold it back but tears were running down his face as he went into the room and grabbed hold of Taylor, who was living and breathing even though Gadget was sure he had watched him die moments before..

He didn't care that he couldn't explain it – Taylor was alive, it was all that mattered and Gadget remembered that as he embraced him tightly.

As Gadget and G2 hugged him at the same time Taylor laughed as he looked at Grace.

"Do you want a hug too?"

And Grace scrambled up on to the bed and the three of them hugged him together.

Then as Lula walked into the room she stopped, giving a gasp as she stared at Taylor.

"Hi Lula. Thanks for fixing me." He said warmly, "I feel _so_ much better!"

Lula dragged in a lungful of air as her head swam..._Taylor was alive?_

She shook her head.

_"I don't understand...I...I...mean, how..."_

Grace jumped off the bed.

"I _know, _it was-"

"Be quiet, Grace." G2 said softly, masking her anger as she got up and walked over to Lula.

Grace turned to Gadget.

"But Daddy it was-"

"Shh." He said, "Not right now, Grace. Maybe Alicia could take you home tonight. Would you like to stay with your Mommy Alicia tonight?"

Grace looked at Alicia who was standing by the doorway.

The little girl's eyes lit up at once.

"_I'd love to!"_

And she hugged Taylor and kissed Gadget's cheek and then ran over to Alicia, taking hold of her hand.

Alicia looked back at Gadget.

"But we didn't arrange this...are you sure you don't mind?"

Gadget looked into her eyes and he smiled.

_"Take your daughter home."_ He said, and as she smiled back at him gratefully she understood: _after all they had been through, hew wanted Grace to spend more time with her at last._

Alicia led Grace out to the corridor.

G2 was having some sharp words with Lula.

"Gadget said I could take Grace home with me tonight."

G2 glanced at her.

"Fine."

And she smiled briefly at Grace.

"Be good for Mommy Alicia."

"I will."

Then as they walked away, G2 turned back to Lula as her electronic eyes blazed with hurt and anger.

"_How could you be so incompetent?"_ She fumed, "You told me my Taylor was _dead!_ How could you do that to me? How could you make such a terrible mistake?"

Lula shook her head, feeling bewildered.

"I'm sorry...I didn't know he was going to get better...I thought he was gone, G2! _I can't explain it!_"

* * *

_Eddie Lazarus was waiting._

He knew Alicia and Grace would be along soon because they had to pass this way to walk out of the building, but that was not the _only_ reason he was here.

Eddie looked around him, knowing she was somewhere nearby. He was looking for someone didn't know - _but she would be important...she would be the one who would carry the message..._

He had a message to deliver and he needed to do it now, because the next time he returned to this place Lula Smith would fit his human face and he could not give this message with the face of a human; he needed to do it while he had living metal for features, while he had the blank face of a cyborg...

As he walked up the corridor, he thought about Alicia:

_She had no idea how important she was, or how important little Grace would be in the future, either..._

Right now Alicia thought she was losing her mind because of what she had seen when she looked into the eyes of Lucien Fairfax, when she had seen the inked swirls on his tattoo shift and form into something else.

But Alicia had _not_ been losing her mind:

He knew how much evil, how much depth and darkness she had seen in Lucien's eyes.

He also knew what she had seen on the back of his hand hidden beneath the tattoo of the ACR:

_Six hundred and sixty -six, even the tattoo couldn't hide it, because the Devil could walk among men and even live as one of them - but he could never truly disguise his mark..._

That battle was over now.

_But he had every intention of staying around to witness and experience this bright new age, to live as Eddie Lazarus for the two hundred years this cyborg body would last him on this earth, to watch this new age begin.  
_

The battles with darkness were truly over; the age of light was beginning...

As Eddie turned another corner he heard her voice.

_He did not know her but he knew she was the one who would carry the message._

He started to walk towards her; she was a woman who had been caught up in the fighting, her home had been burned and her child, a little girl no more than four years old, lay dead in her arms from smoke inhalation.

She was sitting on the floor and sobbing as she held that child because she had carried her a long way to get help, only to be told she was gone and even now as she sobbed she refused to give up, cradling that child's body in her arms.

"Please God, don't let her be dead..."She said tearfully.

_And God heard her._

The cyborg known as Eddie Lazarus turned to her and leaned over the woman and her child.

He indicated to his face of living metal.

The woman looked into his eyes, feeling sure she had never seen eyes filled with such kindness before.

"_Trust this technology."_ He stated, _"It is the hope for all mankind. Tell the others. Tell everyone."_

_And then he ran his hand over the face of her dead child._

As Eddie turned to walk away, he heard a gasp of breath as the woman screamed her child's name as the little girl revived and turned a living shade.

And as he walked on, Eddie smiled as he thought about what he had done:

_Two miracles in one day... _

The little girl coughed and opened her eyes.

"_Mommy?"_ She said.

As the woman clutched her child, she looked around the crowd of people coming and going from the hospital.

"_Come back!" _She yelled_, "Come back, thank you so much! Who are you?"_

And she looked around, searching for the man she would never forget, a man who told her to trust the technology and to tell everyone else to do the same - a cyborg with no face who had restored her child to life...

But he had gone, slipping away anonymously into the crowds, as he left the busy, chaotic building and went outside to wait for Grace and Alicia, who also had no idea how important they were to the future of mankind's cyborg age...


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

It was almost eleven in the morning when Alicia and Grace went back to Alicia's apartment.

"It's not much." She said, looking at Eddie as he sat beside her on the sofa.

She was surprised he had waited outside the hospital for her and Grace, and even more surprised when he told her he needed a place to stay for a short time.

Now Grace was sleeping in the small spare room, catching up on rest that she needed after the long night they had all been through.

And as Alicia looked at Eddie, she thought about what Grace had said as she lay in bed, her eyes growing heavy with sleep:

"_It was Eddie."_ She had whispered,"_He did it. He put his hand on Uncle Taylor and brought him back to life."_

Eddies metallic face shifted into a smile.

"It's nice enough." He said looking around the room.

Then he caught a look in her eyes and he understood why.

_"I know what you saw on the back of Lucien's hand."_

Alicia's eyes filled with fear again.

"I know what you saw. You saw his mark beneath the tattoo. _The mark of the Devil_."

She looked nervously at Eddie, the man who had a face of living metal, a man she knew so little about as she recalled what her daughter had told her.

_"Grace told me what you did."_

He looked at her knowingly.

"She told you I brought life back to Taylor Braydon?"

Alicia nodded.

He leaned a little closer, his dark eyes looking at her intently and as he did that she shifted back a little.

"So...what are you? _Some kind of demon?"_

He stared at her in surprise.

"_Demon?_ No, honey- you want to try the _other_ end of the scale!"

"An angel?"

He smiled and pointed upwards.

"_Higher."_

Her voice dropped to a whisper.

"How high?"

Amusement sparkled in his eyes.

"All the way to the top!" He declared.

Alicia caught her breath as she thought about everything she had seen in dreams - all were things that came to pass since the day she had met him...

"_You're...you're saying you're God?"_

His dark eyes looked deeply into hers.

"The battle for Riverton was the deciding point for the fate of humanity. The Beast was _alway_s going to rise as the leader of the ACR. That's why was he born to this earth as Lucien Fairfax. And that's why I chose to come here as Eddie Lazarus – I knew his fate. I knew he would be in the nuclear accident and need a new body, a cyborg body. That's why I chose this life. Riverton is about to become a great city – East Riverton will rise from the ashes and become the first cyborg city, the first of many. And that new start for mankind needs guidance. That's why I'm sticking around as long as this cyborg body lasts, which is around two hundred years. When the Mayor gives me East Riverton –"

"She won't do that!" Alicia exclaimed.

Eddie smiled.

"Oh yes she _will._ When she gives me East Riverton I will build there. And I will run the factories and the many businesses that set up there too. It will be a city of industry for cyborgs built by cyborgs. They will call me the cyborg king. And I want you there at my side, as Mrs Lazarus."

Alicia looked at him with a stunned expression.

"_Me?"_

He took hold of her hand.

"While I live on this earth I shall be Eddie Lazarus, an ordinary guy who became a cyborg. And if you want to be my wife that will be good, because I will have a human wife-not only a human wife but Alicia MacKenzie, the daughter of Victor, a man who once would have destroyed my kind. Our daughter will marry the son of a warrior, a hero of The Battle of Riverton. They will go on to build a great dynasty together, and become the most powerful cyborg family in the world."

Alicia started to smile.

"_So while you're here on earth you're Eddie Lazarus the cyborg and I can have a baby with you? Did you know I fell in love with you when we first met, did you?"_

And she threw her arms around him and pressed her lips against his.

_She soon stopped as she realized Eddie was not returning her kiss._

He gently prised her off him, and looked at her patiently.

"Don't do that again Alicia. Remember who I really am. I'm the creator of every living thing – including _you._ It's not appropriate for me to kiss you like that. If you want to be my wife you will have to change your thinking a little bit. We won't be having a physical relationship. And you already _have_ a daughter."

She started to smile as she finally understood.

"Grace? Are you saying _Grace_ will grow up to be some kind of great leader?"

Eddie's eyes sparkled.

"_And_ her husband."

Alicia laughed and her eyes sparkled too.

"Who's her husband going to be? You said he was the son of a hero from the Riverton battle?"

Eddie chuckled.

"I can't tell you that, Alicia. You'll have to wait and see."

Then she looked at him and thought about what he had done.

"You brought Taylor back?"

He nodded.

"Yes I certainly did."

"How come you chose him and not the other men who died?"

"Everything has a purpose, Alicia." He replied.

She gave a sigh.

"If you're just Eddie now you're in human form, can't you just answer _all_ my questions?"

"No." He said politely, "Because you don't need to know _everything._"

Alicia paused as she thought about something else she wanted to ask him and chose her words carefully.

"So you can use great power to fix things, right?"

"I can but I prefer to keep that to a minimum, human beings are amazingly capable."

"So...could you..." She paused again, touching the side of her head as she missed her long hair.

"Could you fix my hair for me?"

"_Your hair?"_ He repeated.

"Can I have it back?"

Eddie nodded.

"Sure, it will grow back in time."

"But you can do great things." She reminded him.

"I know I can." He told her, "And Taylor lost his _life_ and I gave it back to him. I think your hair can wait on the scale of things. You need to remember the _important_ things in life, Alicia."

She thought about it and then she nodded.

"You're right." She agreed, as it began to dawn on her that this man Eddie Lazarus, who was someone far greater beneath his human exterior, expected and needed her to make some changes if she was going to become a part of his plan...and it seemed a _very_ big step to make and the more she thought about it the more she wondered if she was up to the task, but she stayed silent and sat alone deep in thought while Eddie walked over to the window and looked East, where the fires were still going out and he turned his thoughts to the day when the Cyborg City would arise from the ashes of war...

* * *

Gadget wanted to go home.

He was on his side on an examination couch in Lula's lab, his shirt was off and he lay there feeling a little strange as Lula stuck something into his back and gave a tug.

"You missed one." Penny said as she stood there beside her.

He heard a metallic sound as she dropped another bullet into the tray beside him.

"I didn't miss it, I'm just tired!" She replied, still feeling sensitive to criticism or anything that seemed remotely like it after she had been so wrong about Taylor's condition.

She pulled a third bullet from the thick metal that covered Gadget's shoulder and then she stepped back.

"You're done now."

Gadget got up and Penny handed him his torn shirt, he put it back on and buttoned it halfway up and reached for his trench coat but Penny stopped him.

"You've got _plenty _more of those coats at home!" She reminded him, "This one is_ full_ of bullet holes!"

Gadget smiled as he looked at her and the wound on his face felt tight; it had been taped back together just like the cuts to the back of his hand. Within hours his cybernetic skin would heal and leave no scars but he still felt exhausted from the long day that had put him through so much.

"Are you ready to leave?" Taylor wondered as he waited in the doorway, "Hurry up! I want to go home!"

As Gadget looked at him he resisted the urge to cry all over again and hug him just to reassure himself that his friend was warm and alive and well. He still didn't understand how Taylor could have made a seemingly impossible recovery, but it didn't matter right now – at this moment all he could feel was gratitude that Taylor had survived.

It was now the middle of the afternoon and G2 had been home and come back and brought Taylor some clean clothes to wear.

He looked just fine now, as if he had never been wounded...

As Gadget looked at him he found himself wondering how this could have happened...

_A miracle?_

_No._

He cancelled that thought:

_If miracles existed, why was he standing here with the body of a cyborg, living his life as Gadget?_

_He had never asked for that fate._

_And so he cancelled out that thought about miracles, because he did not believe miracles existed any more than God did._

_If there was a God in heaven, why would he have allowed John Brown, the man he used to be, to be turned into half machine?_

Gadget stopped thinking those thoughts before they pulled his mood down into a dark place; he had reasons to be happy, the war was over, the enemy was gone forever and Taylor had lived.

He turned to Lula.

"Thanks for patching me up."

She smiled at Gadget, the father of her youngest child, the man who she would always love in her own way even if their love had long since shifted back into friendship.

"Try and stay in one piece." She said, and kissed his cheek.

Gadget gave her a brief hug and then let go.

Then he glanced at Taylor.

"Okay, let's go home." He announced, and Lula watched him leave, walking away with Taylor at his side and his arm around Penny.

* * *

_The days passed by._

While Riverton got over the devastation of the battle, those who had fought and survived rested at home and tried to recover from the impact of it all.

Penny gave a huge sigh of relief when Gadget told her he would not be going back to work or doing anything remotely related to work for a few days. The only time he broke that promise was to make a call to the Chief to remind him that he had promised the Gadget Mobile a new set of tires.

Penny had made the most of their time together, staying close to him and reminding him that she loved him.

At first, despite the warmth of their initial reunion, Gadget had seemed distant, as if still replaying everything in his mind, but doing so silently, in a way that he cared not to share.

Penny understood; _he had seen a lot and been forced to use something he was very much opposed to using – violence. And even though it had been for the best, to a man like Gadget, it was something that he could not easily accept._

Then he started to let her in; while they lay in bed and she held him tightly and listened to the sound of the mechanical workings that moved in unison with his heart, she gently ran her hand down his chest and whispered to him in the dark:

_"Was it terrible?"_

Gadget gave a sigh as he lay there stroking her hair while he looked up at the ceiling.

She had asked a simple question and he wanted to answer it because he felt ready.

"Yes Penny it _was_ terrible. When I got to the lab to fetch Taylor back home, there was this woman, a scientist – she'd been involved in the weapons testing. She told me she was trying to help him but I'll never be sure if she meant that or if she was saying it because I had a gun in my hand at the time. But she told me how to keep him comfortable and what to do for him when we got back to Riverton. She seemed to be concerned about him so I offered her a chance. I told her to come with us."

Penny raised her head from his chest and looked into his eyes, seeing such sadness there.

"What happened?"

"_She went out into the lab and put a gun to her head. She blew her brains out_. Taylor still doesn't know. Last time he asked me what happened to Dr Crane I just said she didn't make it. But I think about that moment sometimes. I didn't want anyone to die unless it couldn't be avoided. I had no idea she would shoot herself like that."

Penny's heart ached as she saw the pain in Gadget's eyes; _he was doing something that always made him unhappy when he thought about it too deeply – he was dwelling on the injustice and the harshness in the world, something he felt very much opposed to._

Penny leaned closer and looked into his eyes.

"Gadget," She said kindly, "I know you want to do it, but you _can't_ change the whole world. It's enough that you're one of the good guys and you'll always do the right thing, but you _can't_ be responsible for other people's actions. It's enough that you can make _our_ world a safe place – you, me and Maxie. _That's enough_."

And then she kissed him.

" _I love you."_

"I love you too." Gadget replied.

Penny ran her finger down the microchips that were set in his chest.

"Is your gadget mode off?"

"It's been off since I came back down from the hills. It's been off for days now."

Penny smiled as her hand moved slowly over his bare chest.

"Great." She said, kissing along his microchips.

He gave a sigh. As soon as she touched the chips he knew she was in the mood because she knew how wild that feeling could drive him- but he was tired.

"I still need to rest _and _my gadget modes off –"

"So what?" Penny said playfully, "All that means is, I have to spend a _long_ time, maybe _hours_...working on you with love and patience in a _really_ intimate way."

And then she gigged.

"_I can't think of a better way to spend the night!"_

And Gadget laughed too, running his fingers through her hair as her kisses moved lower and her fingertips began to patiently stroke the pipe that ran from his hip to his groin, and as those kisses moved lower still he gave a sigh feeling sure that every moment as beautiful as this only helped to remind him the war was far behind and he was _definitely_ home forever now...

* * *

Mayor Wilson was waiting in the office at her palatial home.

She was wearing a tight silken dress and she was _so_ excited to be meeting Mr Eddie Lazarus, the cyborg who had done so much to help defeat the enemy.

As she waited for him to walk though the door she wondered what this brave, tough guy was like, and as she thought about him she crossed her legs, squeezed her thighs together and then uncrossed her legs again, feeling a shiver of anticipation run down her spine.

_Then the door opened and he waked in._

She made a move to rise from her seat but he smiled and spoke up at once.

"No, please. Stay where you are. I shall sit with you. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mayor Wilson."

And as he took a seat he leaned over the desk and shook her hand and then let go again.

The Mayor was looking at him feeling rather surprised:

_She had expected this cyborg man to be someone impressive: tall, handsome, muscular...but Eddie Lazarus just looked like...an ordinary man._

Lula had fixed his face for him now and he looked very much human. His metallic features were covered with cybernetic skin and the Mayor felt sure that if she had seen him in the street she would have passed him by, noticing nothing extraordinary at all about this _very_ ordinary man...

"It's a great pleasure to meet you too." She told him warmly, "And as the Mayor of Riverton I want to thank you for your efforts to help us defeat the enemy. You are one of the key people who helped to turn this battle around and without you everything would have been lost. I would very much like to know if there is anything I can give you, on behalf of the people of Riverton, to say thank you."

Eddie smiled.

"_Thanks, I'll take East Riverton, please."_

The Mayor stared at him.

"But...there's nothing there, not since the ACR compound was burned down..."

Eddie still had a smile on his face.

"I will build a _new_ East Riverton." He promised her, "Bigger and better - and it will all be built by cyborgs. I will turn East Riverton into a great center of industry."

She looked at him, wondering why something that seemed so impossible sounded so easy to do when she spoke to Eddie Lazarus. And as she looked into his eyes, she got the strangest feeling that this man _would_ achieve all he promised and more besides...

The Mayor nodded.

"Very well, Mr Lazarus – East Riverton is yours."

And Eddie smiled as warmth filled his eyes.

"Thank you Mayor Wilson." He stated, shaking her hand once more, "You will _never_ regret this decision, I promise you that!"

* * *

Gadget and Taylor were sitting in the Gadget Mobile.

They were parked out on the highway supposed to be watching for speeders but there was no crime in Riverton and while the city was being cleared up after the battle, not many cars were passing along this way at all.

It was a quiet day.

Taylor was sitting beside Gadget and looking around at the fields and the blue skies.

"It's a nice day." He remarked, "I love it when the sun comes out!"

And Gadget looked at him thoughtfully; before he left the lab on that confusing day, Lula had checked him over and over with more than one scanner- yet found no trace of the terrible damage that weapon had caused him...

_It couldn't have vanished as if by magic._

_There had to be a reason..._

"What do you remember about when you were wounded?" He asked him.

Taylor turned his head and looked at him with a haunted expression in his eyes that made Gadget instantly regret asking that question.

"I don't like talking about it, Gadget."

He gave a sigh.

"I'm sorry, I just need to know for my own peace of mind, I guess. I just want to know how much you remember."

Taylor fell silent and frowned as he thought about the memories he wished he could just close the door on forever.

"Well, she didn't want to test any of the weapons on me. The stun gun wasn't so bad- that's the one that gave me all the little bruises. But the _other_ gun, I didn't even hear it go off. It just made this clicking noise and one of the lab assistants said that was just perfect..."

He paused again and blinked back tears.

"_Then it started to hurt..."_

As much as he regretted bringing up memories that Taylor still struggled with, he needed to know so he asked him one more question.

"Do you remember what happened, when you went critical? I want to know about when Lula was trying to fix you, and then what – you just woke up and felt okay?"

Taylor nodded.

"_That's all I remember."_

He was wiping his eyes.

Gadget felt guilty for bring up a subject that had made him tearful.

"_Then I guess that's all you'll ever remember."_ He said quietly.

Then Taylor glanced back at the fields and as he saw what was happening in the distance his eyes lit up.

"_Look Gadget!"_ He exclaimed excitedly, _"Two cows making babies!"_

Gadget looked over at the field and frowned... cows?

"_All I see are two bulls locking horns."_

"They're bulls?"

"Right, so they can't breed. They're both males." Gadget replied, starting up the engine.

Taylor looked at him in confusion.

"One's a girl bull? The one with the jewellery, the nose ring?"

Gadget smiled as the car roared into life.

"No Taylor. Bulls are male. _All_ bulls! You can't get a _girl_ bull!"

"So how do they make little bulls?" He wondered.

The Gadget Mobile spoke up.

"_Will you stop talking a lot of bull, Taylor?"_

And Gadget laughed.

"Let's go back to town, the Chief said he wanted to see us both this morning, but I don't know what it's about."

And then they drove off, while Taylor still wondered why bulls couldn't make babies, because he was sure they _had_ to come from somewhere...

* * *

After leaving the Gadget Mobile parked outside, Gadget and Taylor walked into Riverton Police Department and headed in the direction of the Chief's office.

And they got closer to the office, Gadget lowered his voice as he spoke to Taylor.

"When we walk out of here, leave the door alone. I'll close it this time."

Taylor smiled and nodded.

"Then I won't break it again!" He exclaimed.

"My thoughts exactly." Gadget replied and then he knocked on the Chief's door.

"Come in!" Quimby said, and he sounded as if he was in a good mood for once, which Gadget found rather confusing.

But when he entered the office he saw Eddie Lazarus sitting there by the desk and as Eddie smiled so did Gadget.

"Good to see you again, Eddie." He said, recalling how he had helped to win the war, "And I see Lula's fixed your face. It looks good."

"Thanks." Eddie replied.

Gadget sat down and so did Taylor.

They looked at the Chief and waited, wondering what this was about.

Gadget had figured out that he had done nothing wrong so he wasn't expecting to be shouted at - and Taylor had more than redeemed himself for his lack of effort back in the days when he hadn't caught a single speeder, so they were _both_ wondering why the smile had vanished from the Chief's face and he was looking so serious all of a sudden...

"I brought you here together because I need to explain something." Quimby said, "You and Taylor won't be working together any more - as of today."

Taylor's eyes grew wide as he stared at him.

"But Sir I promised I'd catch the speeders and I _will!_ Give me another chance!"

The Chief held his hand up to silence him before Gadget started stepping in to defend him too.

"I'm not firing you." Quimby told him, "But after that amazing show of courage you displayed saving those children I felt that perhaps you would be the right man for something other than catching speeders, Taylor."

Gadget looked at him with interest.

"What's this about, Chief?"

Quimby glanced at Eddie, who started to explain.

"After the battle was over we found out there were a number of children here in Riverton who were left without parents. Right now I'm gathering together the cyborg community because I'm regenerating Riverton East. I thought it would be a good idea for these kids to live in families where one or both parents were cyborgs and I've managed to find enough families willing to do this. And those children need to be at school, too. But they need to be taught a different way of thinking first."

And then Quimby spoke up.

"_They are kids of former ACR soldiers_. I'm not sure if you're up for this, Taylor- but they need to get to know a cyborg, come to understand that people like you pose no threat. I think you would be great for the job and so does Eddie because you're so –"

He paused, not wanting to cause offense by calling him childish.

"You get on so well with kids." Quimby told him, "Almost as if you're a big kid yourself. So if you want to do this, Evie's been working with Eddie on some classes you can take to learn all about how to deal with these kids and how to talk to them about everything. You'll need to learn all that before you take the job but it won't take long, a few weeks..."

Taylor's eyes lit up.

"I'd love to do it! I don't care if their parents were mean, they're kids! I _love_ kids!"

And Eddie smiled.

"_I knew you were the right man for the job."_

"And Evie's going to be helping me?"

"That's right." Eddie told him, "She's going to be helping you out in class."

Taylor thought about the young woman who had helped him rescue the kids on the day the ACR invaded Riverton. He felt his heart skip a beat and as a heat spread through his face he quickly opened another button on his shirt, exposing his micro chips.

Then he wondered if Evie liked his micro chips and he shifted in the chair as all of a sudden he felt as if his pants were way too tight.

Then he thought about G2 and how mad she would be if she knew he liked another woman and then he focussed on the Chief, who was starring at him.

"Are you okay? Do you need me to open a window?"

Taylor shook his head.

"_Let me know if you're not feeling too good."_ Quimby said as he recalled how badly hurt Taylor had been after Gadget had rescued him from the lab, and as he spoke again a rare hint of concern crept into his voice.

"I _know_ you haven't been back at work long. And you were in a bad way, Taylor. Your recovery was nothing less than miraculous. _But take it easy_. Why don't you go home and rest? Take the day off, you can start training for your new job on Monday, how's that?"

And Quimby smiled.

"_That way you get a nice long weekend at home."_

Taylor smiled.

"Thanks, Chief!" He said warmly.

Gadget spoke up.

"Do I get a nice long weekend off too?" He hopefully as he smiled at Quimby.

The Chief glared at him.

"_No, Gadget! Get out there and do your job! Catch all those speeders he's been missing for the past twelve months!"_

On the way out of the Chief's office, Taylor grabbed the handle to close the door but Gadget shot out his long arm and grabbed it from him, turning the handle and closing the door softly to spare the woodwork from breaking again.

"Thanks, I forgot about the door!" Taylor exclaimed.

And Gadget smiled, but his smile faded as they headed back to the Gadget Mobile while Taylor talked excitedly about his new job - and Gadget thought about Taylor, who wasn't the smartest guy in the world, a guy who didn't even know the difference between a cow and a bull and wondered how he would handle a class full of kids. _Then he wondered how he would feel being in a class full of kids who had been raised to hate cyborgs, but Taylor was happy right now and he didn't want to ruin his day, so he said no more about it..._

* * *

After Gadget gave Taylor a ride home, he went into the house and found G2 resting on the sofa.

The baby had just been fed and was having a nap and G2 had taken a few moments to lie down and have a rest.

When she saw Taylor she sat up and smiled.

"You're home early!"

"The Chief said I don't have to go back to work until Monday. He's got a new job for me. Him and Eddie Lazarus thought it up."

He took off his jacket and sat beside her.

His eyes were sparkling and he had a big smile on his face, he felt as if he was bursting to tell her his exciting news and he couldn't hold it back any longer.

"Eddie's had the ACR children rehomed here in Riverton. They want a cyborg teacher at school to help them understand the way things are, to show them that cyborgs are nice people. So I'm doing a training course and then I'm going to be their teacher!"

G2's smile faded as she stared at him.

"_There are going to be ACR children at Grace's school?"_

He nodded.

"And I'm going to be their teacher."

She slowly shook her head.

"_Oh no, NO, Taylor!_ How could you forget what their parents - what their organization did to you? I know you don't remember much about it but _I_ remember being at your bedside and being told you were _dying_ because they'd used you for _weapons testing!_"

Taylor looked at her in confusion.

"That was the ACR! _These are children!_ They're just little kids; they're aged between six and eight years old! They're _kids_, G2!"

Her eyes burned with anger.

"Kids of anti cyborg bastards, who bred _little_ bastards to carry on when they were too old!" She snapped, "These children are _already_ conditioned to hate people like us, Taylor! They shouldn't even be in Riverton!"

Taylor saw the anger in her eyes and felt bewildered.

"But that's how the ACR felt about people like us – that _we_ shouldn't be here. We can't show those kids the same kind of hate! If we did that they'd think it's true that cyborgs are evil! They're kids. You can't hate children because of what their parents did – _don't be so mean!_"

G2 thought about what he had just said. It surprised her, because Taylor was not usually so profound - or even correct in many of the statements he made about most things in life, but this time he was right and she knew it.

"I agree with your _unusually_ intelligent remark." She said quietly, "Of course they're just children. I am personally uncomfortable with the idea of them being here because of what their parents stood for. I think it will take me a while to get used to this idea. But if Chief Quimby thinks it's a good idea then it probably is."

And he smiled at her, hoping this was the end of the disagreement.

"So you're happy for me?"

She blinked and her head tilted slightly, it was an old habit from her days as an android that she had carried to her new body.

"_No."_ She stated, _"I'm uncomfortable about the idea."_

And then she got up and left the room.

Taylor remained on the sofa.

He gave a sigh and wished that G2 would be more enthusiastic about the things he wanted to do with his life – he thought the job with the kids was a good idea, because they were only kids, it wasn't their fault what their parents had taught them to believe...

Then Taylor thought some more and wondered if he was doing the right thing being with G2 like this – they never seemed to want the same things...

On the surface everything was great and they loved each other very much, too – but Taylor wanted things in life that mattered to him, like getting married and having kids of his own and G2 had made it clear she had already done those things with Gadget and having experienced the process did not wish to repeat it.

He gave a sigh.

Then he thought some more about his new job and how great it would be to help those kids.

_Then he remembered Evie would be working with him, and that thought made him smile again._

* * *

Later on that evening, Gadget was in the spare room reading to Grace. It was his turn to have her over for the weekend and he loved to read to her before she went to sleep at night.

Maxie had gone to bed a little earlier and as he had said goodnight to him, he had hoped he might have said _Daddy_, but instead as he always did, Penny's son had called him _Uncle Gadget_.

Gadget was now sitting on the edge of Grace's bed reading Sleeping Beauty.

When he got to the part where the prince woke her up with a kiss, Grace's little hand reached up and pulled the book down and she looked into Gadget's eyes.

_That story had reminded her of something and she wanted to come out and say it, even though last time she had tried everyone had told her to be quiet..._

She looked down at the picture in the book of the sleeping princess, lying there as if dead and about to be awoken, then she looked back at Gadget once more.

"_Daddy."_ She whispered, _"I need to tell you something."_

Gadget heard the seriousness of her tone and it worried him: _Grace had never spoken like this before..._

"What's the matter, Grace?"

Her eyes grew wider.

"_I know how Uncle Taylor came back to life."_ She said in hushed voice, _"It was Eddie. He went into his room and he touched his face. He put his hand on him and Uncle Taylor came back to life. I was watching from the door. I saw him do it."_

Gadget said nothing for a moment, he just looked into his daughter's eyes and saw her serious expression – she meant every word she had just said...

He thought about it and he shook his head.

"No, don't be silly. People _can't _do things like that."

"_He's a special person."_ She whispered, _"Mommy Alicia says he's a holy man. She said he has power, he can do miracles."_

_Gadget was starting to feel uneasy. _

_He was also feeling angry, too..._

_He wanted to say that if miracles happened, if God existed, he would not have gone through the physical pain and mental torture of having his body replaced with machinery, his life would not have been every shade of hell he could imagine, he would not have gone through any of it of there was a god in heaven, or here on earth or up in space or wherever the almighty was supposed to live – if God existed, he never would have allowed him to go through the ordeal that turned him from John Brown into Gadget..._

But Grace was too young to hear him talk like that.

So he just took a deep breath and shook his head again.

"No." He said again, "You're mistaken, Grace. And _don't _listen to what Alicia says about Eddie – she used to say _I_ was amazing and wonderful when I was dating her! I think you just took it the wrong way."

"_But I saw it happen, Daddy."_

"No you didn't." He said quickly, then he picked the book up again but his mind was spinning with all she had said and he could barely read the words.

"Okay, where was I – _she wakes up, they fall in love get married, live happily ever after, The End _- Grace, I have to go now."

And he kissed her cheek and got up and went to the door, switching out the light on the way.

"But Daddy I wanted to talk to you about Eddie!"

"Goodnight, Grace." He said again, and carefully closed the door behind him.

* * *

Penny had been feeding Brain in the kitchen.

She walked out of the room to see Gadget putting on his trench coat.

"Where are you going?" She wondered, "It's almost bed time, Gadget!"

And then she smiled as warmth crept into her voice.

"And you're _not_ on duty now, Inspector! The only duty you have is to follow _my_ orders and get up those stairs so we can make the most of the evening together now the kids are asleep!"

Gadget glanced back at her.

"I won't be long. I have to go over and speak to Eddie Lazarus about something."

She gave a sigh.

"Don't be too long! I was planning a romantic evening for us!"

Gadget smiled.

"And we'll _have_ that romantic evening together, Penny! I _promise_ I won't be long."

Then he blew her a kiss and left the house.

As he walked away his smile faded as his heart grew heavy and he thought about what his daughter had told him:

_It seemed impossible._

He wanted it to be impossible, because if it were true, it would mean that God had sat back and allowed him to suffer...

_No, it couldn't be true:_

_Gadget knew there was no God._

_If God existed, if he was all the things he had been taught to believe him to be, why would have let him suffer the way he had?_

_Why did he let them take away his body and turn him into a machine? _

_No God would allow that._

_Wasn't God supposed to be about love and compassion and forgiveness and healing and the other things that were missing from this world?_

_No. Eddie Lazarus was none of those things, Gadget felt sure of it._

He was still thinking about it as he started up his car.

"Where are we going, G Man?" The Gadget Mobile asked him.

Gadget's eyes darkened reflecting the falling shadows of dusk.

"_I'm going to see Lazarus." _He said quietly as he pulled away from the house, _"I need to talk to him. I need answers."_


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Thoughts had crowded Gadget's mind as he drove over to Alicia's apartment to find Eddie.

There were so many thoughts inside his head he felt as if there could be no room left for anything else:

_Eddie Lazarus was a man transferred into a totally cyborg body._

_He looked human, but inside he was made of metal and reconstructed human tissues._

_He was a cyborg._

_No, he couldn't be anything more than that._

_Gadget had witnessed Alicia and Eddie safe and unharmed after the explosion, protected by Eddie's shield._

_But Lula said he didn't have a shield._

_And Grace had seen him restore life to Taylor._

_Word had got around Riverton about this man._

_People said there was a cyborg called Eddie who used to be a janitor and he was going to do great things with the rebuilding of East Riverton._

_People also said there was something special about him._

_Some were even saying if cyborgs should have a leader, it should be him. _

_Some looked on him as a king..._

As Gadget drove on he tried to put everything into some kind of logical place:

_Eddie was a nice guy._

_He had a lot of charisma, too._

_People instantly liked him._

_It didn't make him God..._

But he still had unanswered questions and he knew he couldn't leave them unanswered:

_Grace believed Eddie had brought Taylor back to life._

_And Gadget knew Eddie had got Alicia safely away from the explosion because he had witnessed it with his own eyes._

He couldn't explain these things, he needed answers.

And that thought stayed on his mind as he knocked on the door of Alicia's apartment.

She answered the door almost right away.

Her hair was growing back now, it was very short but soft around her face and as she smiled at him he noticed something different about her, it was there in her eyes, almost as if she had found some kind of peace in her life at last.

"Gadget." She said, "You must be here to see Eddie?"

As he followed her inside he felt mildly surprised at that remark, but then he guessed with the reputation this guy was getting, probably a _lot _of people wanted to come and visit Eddie...

She led him through to the kitchen and then walked out of the room again, giving them privacy to talk.

"Hi Gadget." Eddie said.

Gadget stared at him.

This man who had a fire proof shield that no one could explain, who had restored Taylor's life, was standing with his back to him.

He was at the kitchen sink washing the dishes.

_Washing the dishes? How much more ordinary and human could this guy get?_

"I wanted to talk to you about something, Eddie."

As he heard those words Eddie turned away from the sink and dried his hands.

He smiled at Gadget.

"Fine. Let's talk. My door is always open for you, Gadget."

Gadget stood there looking at him doubtfully.

"I've heard some things from Grace. I know you're a nice guy and I'll never forget how you helped us to win the battle for Riverton. But ease up on all the cosmic talk! I can understand people thinking you're special and of course you want to make the most of it- but this has gone far enough. You _can't_ let people think you're some kind all powerful deity! It's deception, it's called fraud, it's against the law!"

And Eddie just listened and said nothing.

"That's all I wanted to say." Gadget told him, "I think I'd better go now."

And he turned to leave.

"_Wait, John Brown."_

Gadget stopped, turning slowly and looking back at Eddie as he stared at him in shock.

"No one calls me that any more. How do you know my name?"

Eddie smiled.

"I know everybody's name, John. And you came here to ask me questions but you changed your mind, because thinking even for a _moment_ that I could exist after everything you've been through in your life makes you angry. Yes, I know you think I abandoned you on that day they replaced your body with machinery. _But I never turned my back on you._ _I was with you every day._ And I know about those words that Penny said to you, about how she loves every wire and chip in your body, everything that makes you who you are."

Gadget blinked away tears: _No one could have known what Penny had said to him that day..._

Eddie was still speaking.

"When love is as complete and as beautiful as that, it's love that's been written by my hand. So _no_ John Brown, I _never_ abandoned you. And yes I _did_ resurrect Taylor Braydon. I gave your friend his life back so that he can go on and fulfil destiny. One day this city will be ruled over by the daughter of the king and the son of the warrior, a hero of the battle for Riverton."

Gadget held him in his gaze, afraid to look away because what he saw shining for Eddie's eyes was so powerful there was so much love, compassion and wisdom that he did not _want_ to turn away from it.

"They call _me_ a hero of the battle of Riverton." He said in a hushed voice.

Eddie laughed softly.

"Well it's not _your_ son, John. _I'm talking about Taylor Braydon_. It's nice that he wants to be with G2 and take care of the kids – but she's _not_ the one he's destined to marry. He's going to marry Evie, the girl he's going to be working with at the school. They will do great things with those kids; they will really change their lives for the better. And along the way they will fall in love. It's _their_ son who will marry the woman who grows up to be considered my stepdaughter. _Taylor's son will marry Grace_."

Gadget blinked away more tears... _Grace had such a great destiny ahead of her?_

"_Taylor's_ son?" He said in surprise, thinking of his not too smart friend who didn't know the difference between a cow and a bull, "Are...are you _sure_ you've picked the right guy?"

And Eddie laughed.

"I'm very sure, about that, John Brown. Taylor's son will marry Grace and together they will be the most powerful family in East Riverton. And one day Taylor's grandson will become the first cyborg president."

Gadget felt stunned.

"_Taylor?" _He said again.

Eddie smiled back at him.

"Taylor." He confirmed.

Gadget took in a sharp breath as his tears became harder to hold back.

"If you're God, _why_ did you..."

And as his words were lost and choked away as emotion overwhelmed him, Eddie answered for him.

"Why did I let you become Gadget? I'll tell you why – because _you_ were the man for the job. Someone had to be the first and there was no one else with your kindness and compassion and strong sense of honesty and respect for the law. And there was no one else who could have endured the suffering you went through with such courage and strength and optimism."

Gadget knew he was crying as the tears he held back for so long started to run down his face.

"But if you're _really _God, why did you choose to be Eddie Lazarus? You could have been any one you wanted to be – _why_ choose the life of a man whose entire body was destroyed, you could have been anyone to witness this new age - why choose to go through the pain of becoming a cyborg like me?"

Eddie stepped closer as he looked into Gadget's eyes.

"_I chose to suffer the same pain as any man on this earth who underwent the same."_ He told him, _"For you and every other person who will walk your path."_

Gadget gave a sob and Eddie grabbed hold of his hand as pulled him closer, embracing him as a father who was welcoming home his own son.

As he let go and Gadget stepped back he blinked away his tears and smiled at Eddie Lazarus.

_"I get it now."_ He said as he felt as if the weight of all the pain and anger he had ever felt at being turned into a machine lifted from his soul forever, _"I understand. Thank you for telling me that."_

Eddie just smiled back at him.

"You're welcome." He said warmly.

Then Gadget remembered something else.

"But if Taylor leaves G2, what will happen with her?"

"She'll find another guy in her own good time," He promised him, "Someone who will want the same things as her. Stop worrying about other people! You've got your family to think about. _And your new baby_."

Gadget stared at him.

"Is that what you meant when you said _my_ son when I asked you who would marry Grace one day, and you said not _your_ son..."

Eddie quickly explained.

"No, you will have another little girl."

Gadget was still staring at him.

"But I can't father any more kids... is there some kind of reason for this, has she got some great destiny too?"

Eddie chuckled.

"No." He stated, "I just thought you might like another little girl. It would be nice for you and Penny to have a child together. And by the way, you _do_ have a son – you just don't know about him yet."

Gadget frowned as he thought about it.

"No, I'm sure I'd know if I had a son."

Eddie was still smiling.

He turned back to the kitchen sink and started to finish up washing the dishes.

"By the way, that barbecue Penny wants to have in the garden in a few weeks time for Graces birthday? Go ahead and do it – it won't rain!"

Gadget still felt stunned by everything he had learned, and even more surprised that Eddie had suddenly switched to talking about the weather and a barbecue.

_"Thanks...thank you for everything."_

"You're welcome." He replied, and he turned around and smiled again, before starting to dry the dishes up.

Gadget walked back down the hallway.

Alicia was waiting by the front door.

As she opened it for him she smiled.

"_You know."_

Gadget nodded.

"_Yes I do." _He said quietly, then he went back to the Gadget Mobile and drove home, feeling as if today was the day when everything had finally fallen into place:

There was no more hurt inside him, it was gone forever now...

* * *

_The weeks passed by._

Every morning when Taylor Braydon walked into the classroom and saw those children sitting there he felt slightly apprehensive. Their eyes fixed on him, looking at him as if they did not know what to expect from a cyborg. He was relieved that Evie was there to help him, not only with the kids but with the difficult side of it, like spelling words and answering questions.

_At first the children had been wary of him._

_And then they had become curious._

Taylor hadn't noticed it at first, but as the days went by they lost that hostile look they had given him on the first day he had walked into the classroom.

But all the same, he still felt a little uneasy about bringing up subjects he had been asked to discuss with them, especially about what he was expected to talk about right now...

The younger kids were over on the other side of the classroom drawing pictures and Evie was helping them.

She glanced over at Taylor, who had the other kids around a big table and noticed that he sounded nervous as he started to speak.

"I'm going to talk to you today about what happened to me when the ACR took me to their lab."

And he paused, glancing over at Evie.

She smiled at him and he looked away again feeling sure he could get through this difficult lesson simply because she was in the room; she had no idea how much confidence she gave him when he found things tough and he was sure he wanted to tell her that too, but instead he concentrated on the lesson. He had been told how to explain to the kids, and he had been told that it was the right time to discuss it with them, because they had been in this class for several weeks now and they were ready to hear this...

He looked at the children.

"Why do you think they took me to their lab?"

A little girl put her hand up to answer the question.

"Because they wanted to take away your robotics, because you're a cyborg?"

"That's almost right." Taylor replied, trying not to think about the pain he suffered in that lab, "I expect a lot of you were told that cyborgs had to be taken apart. Is that what your parents told you?"

The children fell silent and some of them nodded.

"Do you think if they'd done that it would have been fair?" He asked them.

"No." A little boy said "Because you need your robotics. Your arms are made of metal inside because you lost your real arms."

"That's right." Taylor told him," Because I was in a very nasty explosion and I lost my human arms. But the ACR didn't want to take me apart. They'd built a gun that could break my robotics inside and they wanted all their soldiers to carry one, so that it would be easy to get rid of all the cyborgs. It was a new weapon and they decided to use me to test it. They took me to a lab and they shot me with it. _And it hurt a lot_."

And the children all fell silent as they looked at him.

"I was hurt very badly." Taylor said, "I almost died. But I was rescued and taken back to the cybernetics center at Riverton. My family were told I probably wouldn't make it. I was so badly injured at one point the doctor who was treating me actually thought I'd died. But I got better."

He carried on explaining for a while longer, explaining his experience as carefully as he could.

Then Taylor heard a little sob.

One of the girls who sat at the table had started to cry.

He got up and went over to her and spoke quietly to her.

"What's the matter?"

"_I'm sorry you got hurt."_ She said to him.

"It's not _your_ fault." Taylor told her, "It was the ACR and what they believed in. They had wrong ideas about cyborgs."

And the little girl looked into his eyes and managed to smile.

"I'm glad you're okay now, Taylor."

"So am I!" He agreed, then he checked his watch.

"Okay kids the bell will ring in about five minutes. I want you to think about what we've been talking about and after you've been outside to play we can do some writing about what this talk has made you think about."

Then he went to the front of the class and searched through some paperwork on his messy, disorganized desk as he searched for the guide that told him how to take the rest of the lesson.

It was at that moment Evie looked over and wondered what was going on; the little girl who had been crying had leaned across the table and started to whisper with the other kids.

Then the girl got up from her seat.

_Then the other kids all got up too..._

Taylor was still searching for the paperwork on his messy desk.

Then he felt a tap on his arm.

He turned around to see the little girl who had been crying. She was standing there looking up at him and all the other kids were standing there behind her and they were all looking at him too.

"What's the matter?" He said to her, wondering what was going on.

The little girl beckoned to him to come closer.

He leaned forward, expecting her to ask him something.

Instead she put her arms around him and gave him a hug.

As she let go Taylor looked at her in surprise.

"Oh, you wanted to hug me? That's nice. Why did you want to hug me?"

The little girl just smiled and stepped aside and the next child in the line came forward and hugged him too.

Evie watched in amazement as every single one of those children in the queue took a turn to hug Taylor.

Then the bell rang and after they had all gone outside to play, Evie was still smiling as she collected up the pictures the younger children had been drawing.

"That was such a wonderful thing to see!" She exclaimed, "Every one of those kids wanted to hug you, Taylor!"

And Taylor's eyes shone with happiness as he smiled.

"I think its working; those kids are really starting to understand."

Evie laughed as she held up a crayon picture made by one of the younger children.

"That's you." She said, "Holding hands... with _me_."

And she giggled.

"_Some of the little ones think I'm your girlfriend!"_

And Taylor looked at the drawing of a man with micro chips holding hands with a woman with blonde hair and glasses.

There was a big pink heart drawn at the top of the picture.

Taylor smiled as he looked at the drawing.

"I like that." He said quietly, then he looked at Evie and wanted to say so much but he wasn't great at finding the right words so he said the only thing that he knew would make sense.

Taylor looked into her eyes.

"_I love you."_ He said quietly.

Evie looked up at him.

Taylor leaned closer and suddenly his arms were around her, he was holding her close and they were sharing a kiss, it was a day they would always remember, too. It would be a while before Taylor decided to make a break and leave G2 and start a new life with Evie - but it would happen in time, because they were meant to be together and although they didn't know it, they had certainly already felt it from that very first kiss...

* * *

Gadget had spent the day driving around Riverton but it seemed even though he was on duty there had been no arrests to be made; Riverton was a very peaceful place to live in these days and Gadget was happy about that.

"I'd better go home now Gadget Mobile." He said as they drove onwards, "I don't want to be late for Grace's birthday party."

And as they took the long straight road home, Gadget couldn't stop smiling.

"You're happy about something, G Man." The car remarked, "What is it?"

As he answered that question his eyes glowed with pride and he felt a sense of gratitude, too; he knew he had been given a gift...

"_Penny's pregnant."_ He said.

"Congratulations Gadget!" The car exclaimed.

Gadget glanced up at the flawless skies above Riverton.

He was still smiling.

Eddie had remembered it was Grace's birthday. The barbecue would be just fine; as he had promised, there was not a single cloud in the sky...

* * *

When he got home he parked the car and got out.

The garden was full of kids running around and as he went over to Penny he put his arm around her and gave her a kiss.

"Looks like the weather's going to stay perfect." He remarked.

"I know!" Penny said in surprise, "It's going to be a perfect day."

Gadget stepped in through the open door and took off his hat and trench coat and hung them up.

He turned back to Penny and looked into her eyes.

"_Everything's perfect." _He said softly, giving his pregnant wife another hug.

He held her for a moment and then pulled back a little, looking into her eyes again.

"You made me the happiest man alive before you got pregnant but now I just can't tell you how happy I am, I can't find the words."

Penny smiled.

"Lula can't believe it!" She reminded him, "She said she didn't understand how it happened because she thought it was impossible."

"_Nothing's impossible."_ Gadget told her_, "I know that now."_

Then as he let go of her he noticed something - his hat and trench coat had gone missing...

"One of the kids took my coat and hat!" he said, "I'd better get them back."

And he went out into the garden.

_"You can't stop me, I'm Claw!"_ Yelled Grace, playfully moving her hand in a pincer style as she ran across the lawn.

A little boy dashed after her dressed in Gadget's coat and hat.

_"I can do anything!"_ He yelled back at her, _"I can save the world, I'm Inspector Gadget!"_

As Gadget went over to him the boy turned around.

And Gadget stared in surprise:

_It was Maxie. _

_Maxie was pretending to be him?_

"I need my coat and hat back, Maxie." He told him.

Maxie turned to his friends.

"Come here and meet Inspector Gadget!" He said excitedly.

Then he looked up at Gadget and smiled.

"_He's my Dad."_ He added.

As Gadget heard Maxie say those words, his eyes lit up with joy.

_Now he understood what Eddie had meant when he had told him that he already had a son..._

Gadget gave him a hug.

"_You can wear my coat and hat for a little while."_ He told him, _"I don't mind you doing that, son."_

* * *

Months later, the gleaming spires of the new East Riverton were already visible on the skyline, shining bright in the morning sun.

Gadget could see the new buildings in the distance when the stood by the window and looked out; everything Eddie had promised was happening.

_Everything had come to pass._

Penny was sleeping in bed and as Gadget looked out at the new city being constructed in the East, he smiled as he spoke softly.

"I never thought I'd see this time come about. Even before the war I used to feel like I was fighting my own battle every day but not now, that's all in the past. The battle for Riverton is a day that the world will never forget. It _changed_ the world. Now Riverton's becoming a great place where they say the new age is beginning, an age where cybernetic technology will do wonderful things, people will live longer, cyborgs will become the way of the future for everyone. It's wonderful. And there's a guy who lives in a big house in East Riverton. His name's Eddie and he used to be a janitor but some say he's more than that. Some people call him the cyborg king and other people think he's a holy man."

And Gadget looked down at his six week old daughter who he cradled in his arms, the little girl they had named Hope who had Penny's eyes and his dark hair and Gadget smiled as he remembered the truth about Eddie Lazarus.

"A lot of people think a lot of things." Gadget said softly to his daughter as he gazed at her feeling the same wonder he had felt the day she was born and she had taken her first breath, _"But I know the truth."_

And he looked out towards the shining spires of East Riverton.

"_I know." _He said warmly, _"I know what I believe..."_

The End.

**Author Note: **

*****THE STORY CONTINUES IN BOOK 4: DOOMSDAY MACHINE'*****


End file.
